By Issah Mohammed, GNA
Accra, Oct 27, GNA – Stakeholder groups from various sectors within the West African region are meeting in Accra, to deliberate on how livelihood empowerment, responsible business practices and strategic partnerships can mitigate conflict especially in mining areas.
The stakeholders who make up the Regional Community of Practice (RCOP) would explore how economic sectors such as the extractive, agribusiness and related value chain can be better leveraged to reduce security risks and mitigate drivers of instability and radicalism.
Speaking at the opening session of the two-day event organised by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) with support from the German Federal Foreign Office, COP Abdul Razak Osman, the National Security Coordinator, said mining had the potential to fuel conflict and fund violent extremism and terrorism.
“These are all vulnerable factors that are capable of damaging our various communities and we must do something about it,” he said.
He urged policy makers to work beyond creating jobs, to reducing poverty through diversified sources of livelihoods for local communities.
To address violent extremism and prevent a spillover from other countries, he called for non-combative interventions such as civic awareness, creation of economic empowerment opportunities at the local level and introducing social cohesion programmes at the grassroot level.
Mr Kwame Ahumah, the Director of Mines at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources said the largely informal nature of the artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) sector heightened tension among stakeholders
He attributed this to weak compliance with environmental laws and threatening of community wellbeing, saying, it was worrying that the persistent grievances and economic vulnerability engulfed in governance may open space for criminal networks, he said.
He said government recognised that addressing challenges within the sector went beyond enforcement, to include identifying the economic and social factors that incentivised the informalisation of the sector.
“Government will support miners who operate responsibly and within the law while take firm action against those who destroy the environment and undermine the rule of law,” he said.
Representing the German Ambassador, Mrs Bianca Heldt-Kwame, Political Advisor at the Embassy said the West African region, despite it potential is faced with economic vulnerabilities, insecurity and social exclusion challenges
Addressing these challenges, she said, demanded engaging and partnering with local communities within the region to develop right strategies to build resilient and sustainable future.
“Peace, development and economic opportunities cannot be pursued in isolation. They are closely connected,” she said.
GCERF began operating in Ghana in late 2023, following the Ministry of National Security’s involvement as a partner and member country.
The fund has invested US$3 million to support 11 civil society organisations in Ghana through interventions that address the economic, political and civic factors contributing to radicalisation, instability and violent extremism.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
29 Oct. 2026
Reporter:Issah Mohammed