Abstract:
This paper has attempted to clarify the dialectic contradictions between mining companies
and their host communities with experiences from the Ghana‟s gold mining industry. Many
attempts have been made by parastatal institutions, donor and transnational mining
companies to present the corporate citizenship drives of these companies as effective and
satisfactory. However, historical and systemic dialectic method of analysis reveal that these
companies are basically in Ghana to maximise profit without taking the interest of the host
communities seriously on their business agenda and are in diverse ways implementing
cosmetic community programmes that are unable to help mitigate rural poverty. In many
instances, these companies are causing destruction to fragile endemic ecosystems and
extensive displacement of defenceless rural communities. Weak public institutions, lack of
awareness regarding basic rights on the part of these rural inhabitants and limited access to
necessary information result in an immense imbalance of power, wealth and knowledge that
favours these big corporations. Based on the systemic (structural-functional) approaches, a
model of link between the business objectives of the companies and the aspirations of the
host communities is established for a greater integration and systemisation of the corporate
social responsibility programs whose practical implication would contribute to the
achievement of social equilibrium.
