In Ghana, the people who control the mines must give three percent of their income to local authorities or the community. Unfortunately, this occurs only on very rare occasions, if at all, due in part to the fact that the process is not monitored regulated. All this could change with “Where my money dey?”
A group of hackers from Ghana are asking the question “Where my money dey?” in order to bring a little more transparence to mining and its communal income. The idea has been brought to life with support from the initiative, Code for Africa.
The platform allows users to select a region and see how much money the mining authorities should have been paying to the community compared to how much they actually paid. The numbers are based on official figures – and the difference speaks volumes.
People living in the mining areas can also leave their eyewitness accounts on the “Share your Story“ section to detail the machinations of the mining companies.
Unfortunately, the site seems a little neglected with some text and images missing. Hopefully, the idea of “Where my money dey?” doesn’t seep into nothingness but rather evolves into an effective tool against exploitation within the resources sector and the consequential poverty.
This article has been from the original which appeared on RESET’s German platform.
