Bright Simons, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, has criticized Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for organizing a consultation that resembled a pageant for the country’s prospective lithium mine.
Mr Simons shared images showing chiefs in traditional regalia exchanging pleasantries with staff of Atlantic Lithium company at the event.
He expressed disappointment in the consultation process, stating that it lacked in-depth discussions on critical issues such as water tables, tailings, and leaching. He also noted the absence of probing questions from local journalists.
Simons questioned the EPA’s decision to organize the consultation as a colorful event, likening it to a jamboree. He argued that such an approach does not encourage informed participation in designing mitigation measures for the impact of mining on the environment and social life.
“Ghana’s EPA is organising what is meant to be a community consultation on Ghana’s prospective lithium mine. But it seems more like a colourful pageant with long, droning, speeches. No hard questions about watertables, tailings, leaching etc. And no pestering local journalists.
“But why must a consultative process to engage a community about an impending mining activity & its likely impact on the environment & social life be organised as a durbar? Like a jamboree? Is that how to secure informed participation in designing mitigation measures?” he wrote in a post on X.