Ghana needs rethink of natural resource management contracts – Bawumia

The Vice President and Flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, says Ghana needs a new paradigm in natural resource contracts to ensure the nation maximises benefits of its natural resources.

Successive governments have often come under criticism for the type of agreements entered into with external interests for the exploitation Ghana’s natural resources.

Speaking to the nation in Accra on Wednesday February 7, 2024, to unveil his vision and priorities for Ghana, Dr. Bawumia outlined a number of measures, including value addition and Ghanaian ownership, describing them as key.

“As President, I will usher Ghana in a Golden age for the maximization of the benefits from our natural resources like gold, lithium, bauxite, and so on,” he said.

“The key to doing this is value addition and Ghanaian ownership. We need a new paradigm in natural resource contracts.”

Dr. Bawumia said some of the key policies his government will implement to maximize Ghana’s benefits from its natural resources will include measures to “formalize, regularize and regulate environmentally sustainable small scale mining.”

“About one million people are engaged in small scale mining. Our goal would be to help grow small scale mining companies into large scale companies with capacity building and assisting them to access financing to acquire equipment. We can create many millionaires in the small scale mining industry if we support them,” he said.

“My government will support the Minerals Commission and key stakeholders to formalize the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) sector with the objective of ensuring that the activities of the entire value chain are sustainably and responsibly done so that most of the gold produced by this sector can be sold to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and be eligible to be part of the gold reserves of the Central Bank.”

Dr. Bawumia added that in line with this, his government “will license all miners doing responsible mining . District Mining Committees, including chiefs, will provide initial temporary licenses to miners.”

“As long as miners mine within the limits of their licenses, for example no mining in river or water bodies, there will no longer be any seizure or burning of excavators.”