The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and local institutions in Ghana’s mining communities: Challenges in understanding barriers to accountability

Abstract

Motivation:The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard that promotes transparency and accountability in resource-rich countries to improve governance of the extractive sector. Despite improvements in the subnational disclosure of royalty payments, a significant problem is the failure of these efforts to improve accountability and benefits to mining communities. Purpose: The article asks how institutions of local governance affect national efforts to improve accountability to mining communities in Ghana on the use of mineral revenues for development. It contributes to the broader theoretical literature on EITI by clarifying what outcomes, if any, can be directly attributed to the disclosure of royalty payments. Methods and approach: This qualitative study employs a case-study analysis of EITI adoption in Ghana, one of the first countries to join the initiative. The article contextualizes local governance institutions and dynamics in relation to the royalty disbursement process. It draws on original field research to analyse their role in impeding the expected benefits of royalty disbursements to mining-affected communities. Findings: The research identifies deficiencies in local governance structures and processes as they relate to the use of mineral royalties, but also instances of variation in how officials react to EITI. The range of individual actors, institutions, and complex processes on which the subnational disbursement of royalties depends, makes it problematic to attribute the absence of improvements directly to Ghana's EITI. The findings demonstrate that EITI's role in participating countries is best understood as facilitative and indirect when addressing development outcomes for mining communities. Policy implications: Disclosure of royalty payments to local governments is unlikely on its own to result in improved development outcomes for local communities, even when the national government is committed to the goal. There is a need for policy interventions aimed at specific communities to ensure royalty payments reach the This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

'Is Transparency Enough? An Examination of the Effect of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) on Accountability, Corruption and Trust in Zambia

“…Scholars studying the EITI in other contexts have also found that the ability of the initiative to improve extractive industry governance was hampered by the limited quality of information (transparency condition) (Brynildsen and Nombora 2013;Hilson and Maconachie 2008;Ölcer 2009), poor capacity of CSOs (publicity condition) (Dashwood et al 2021;Kolstad and Wiig 2009) and inadequate accountability mechanisms (accountability condition) (Sovacool and Andrews 2015). Conversely, in the case of Mexico, the country has a strong presence of all three conditions, with 'transparency in all policy areas'; 33 empowered and capable CSOs; and CSO participation in 'legislative process… [and] budgetary cycles of… extractive industry public policy' 34 (López andFontaine 2019: 1161).…”

“…However, many scholars argue that transparency alone is not sufficient and does not automatically lead to increased accountability, reduced corruption or increased trust, but is instead a necessary condition which must be present, along with other favourable factors, in order for these governance issues to be improved (Bauhr and Grimes 2014;Dashwood et al 2021;Gaventa and McGee 2013;Kolstad and Wiig 2009;Lindstedt and Naurin 2010;Sovacool et al 2016;Sovacool and Andrews 2015). The literature highlights three scope conditions which this paper argues are necessary for transparency initiatives, such as the EITI, to improve extractive industry governance outcomes: 1) the quality of transparency (transparency condition), 2) the capacity of the population (publicity condition) and 3) the availability of accountability mechanisms (accountability condition).…”