Ghana, through its constitutional arrangement, practices the public ownership of natural resources. The state grants mining rights to prospective investors in the mining sector. However, the exploitation of natural resources in Ghana has had devastating effects on its mining communities including deprivation and destruction of farmlands, delayed compensation, rising cost of living, inadequate housing, youth unemployment and family disorganisation. Besides, mining communities in Ghana face a number of challenges such as the failure to incorporate in legal provisions wealth creation opportunities for local indigenes as compensation for the deprivation of their land, and conflicts that erupt between mining companies and indigenes due to deprivation of their source of income. Using the doctrinal lecgal research, this article seeks to examine the legal environment regulating investments and investor protection in Ghana's mining sector. The paper postulates that the prevailing legal regime in Ghana's mining sector protects investors but ignores the needs of the local communities. It reveals that the current legal regime in Ghana for development of mining communities is heavily dependant on the royalties paid to the state, which has failed to ensure adequate development in mining communities. The article argues for a paradigm shift and advocates for a balance of protection and treatment for investors and mining communities because the existing legal regime for investment gives too much to investors and very little to mining communities.
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