Former Chief Justice of Ghana, Her Ladyship Justice Sophia Akuffo has intensified her campaign seeking for the country to maximize the benefits it derives from the natural resources endowment.
Justice Sophia Akuffo in her latest suggestion, is calling on the government to halt all forms of mining for now until the time the country will be able to implement proper and robust systems that will maximize the benefits from the natural resource.
Justice Sophia Akufo is deeply frustrated over the failure of the country to capitalize on its mineral resource endowment to generate wealth that will transform the lives of the citizens.
Speaking at an Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) event on Monday on the theme, “Maximizing the Benefits of Ghana’s Natural Resources,” she bemoaned the decades of exploitation by multinational companies who she believes are shortchanging the country due to the kind of agreement the state signed with them.
The huge financial gap created by this “exploitation”, Justice Sophia Akuffo is partly the cause of the unending cycles of the country to the IMF for assistance. She further criticized the concession-type leases currently in operation leaving the country with very minimal royalties and taxes.
But sadly, the former CJ says she has observed that it appears the country is content with the meagre earnings from the mineral wealth and hence no drastic effort for change.
“Our natural resources have been exploited under concession-type leases that grant exclusive rights to foreign companies. These companies keep a disproportionately high share of the extracted resources while paying Ghana a meager amount in royalties and taxes. Over the years, we seem to have been grateful to settle for such pittance simply because we do not value what we have,” she lamented.
In a bold call, Justice Sophia Akuffo suggested that the country must suspend all forms of mining activities until robust systems are put in place to properly manage the resource for the country’s benefit.
“Until we are ready to see the true value of our resources, perhaps we should even stop mining altogether. We should stop extracting the wealth that God has generously placed on and under our land until we can use it properly for ourselves,” he announced.
Commenting on whether the country has the capacity to exploit the mineral wealth ourselves, she said, “I cringe every time I hear that excuse because it is not backed by any amount of truth. We should stop belittling ourselves and recognize the true value of what we have under our land.”
The retired Chief Justice’s stance has begun sparking a national conversation on the resource governance and the distribution of the wealth of the nation’s mineral wealth.
Many industry analysts agree that Ghana’s reliance on concession-based mining deals has deprived the nation of significant wealth, fueling economic instability.
With calls growing for a more beneficial mining regime, stakeholders are urging the government to reconsider its agreements with multinational mining firms and explore models that guarantee Ghana a fairer share of its resources.
