Former Chief Justice and Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Justice Sophia Akuffo, is calling for a thorough review of Ghana’s mining agreements to ensure the country gains more significant economic benefits from its natural resources.
She believes the current agreements resemble outdated colonial-era deals, where foreign companies make huge profits while Ghana receives only a small fraction of the returns.
Addressing a press conference on maximizing the benefits of Ghana’s natural resources, Justice Akuffo stressed the urgency of policy reforms to boost local value creation and economic transformation.
“There is a need to set up a small committee of about five experienced Ghanaian experts in the natural resources sector to review and recommend necessary amendments to all natural resource laws in Ghana to optimize the benefits of natural resources to the country,” she urged.
She further emphasized that the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) should be amended to give local governments a direct role in resource management. “The Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) should contain a provision that moves the management of some mineral resources to local governments such that District Assemblies are directly involved in the management of these resources,” she added.
