Who is the Rightful Refcipient? Compensation for Land Use Deprivation: The case of Newmont Gold Ghana limited

Taking (eminent domain, expropriation or compulsory purchase) must be accompanied by adequate and effective compensation in all civilised societies where fundamental human rights are protected. The Ghanaian Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) recognises this and among other entitlements has introduced a new head of claim (deprivation of use) to the compensation regime whenever there is taking for mining. However the rightful recipient of deprivation use is have not been defined in the statute. This paper focused on the challenges surrounding the determination of rightful recipients of compensation for deprivation of use dwelling on Newmont Gold Ghana’s Akyem Project experience. Personal observation whilst acting for some affected persons and questionnaire survey was conducted among affected people and practicing valuers to discern their views with regard to the above. Evidence from the compensation exercise revealed that many challenges were encountered in identifying the various interest holders rightfully entitled to receive compensation for the deprivation of use in the absence of legislative direction. Scenarios emerged involving landowners, tenants and sharecropper farmers and sorting out the rightful recipients for compensation was fraught with conflicting and multiple claims. The situation calls for speedy passage of Legislative Instrument (LI) under the Act 703 to offer clear guidelines on how compensation for deprivation of use should be assessed and what entitlement criteria should be adopted.