President Mahama used his United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) address to signal that Ghana’s incoming African Union chairmanship could become the vehicle through which the continent finally converts its mineral wealth into industrial prosperity, rather than repeating a historical pattern of raw extraction with limited local benefit.
Setting out terms for Africa’s participation in the global critical minerals trade, Mahama warned against a repeat of extractive patterns as demand for green-transition inputs accelerates. “But Africa will not remain a passive arena for a new scramble for resources,” he told the Assembly, adding that “critical mineral extraction must not replicate colonial-era exploitation.”
He committed the continent to a different model, stating, “We will process our minerals at home, build local industries, create dignified jobs for our youth, and retain the value of our natural resources.”
That commitment takes on added weight against the timeline the President laid out elsewhere in his address. Ghana assumes the African Union chairmanship in January 2027, weeks before the country marks its 70th anniversary of independence, and Mahama was explicit that the platform would be used to advance continental economic priorities rather than serve as a ceremonial posting.
He said the chairmanship would be used to “champion continental integration, accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), push for peace and security in conflict zones, and ensure that Africa speaks on the global stage with one resolute, undivided, and confident voice.”
Africa holds a substantial share of the world’s cobalt, lithium, and gold reserves, yet remains among the poorest regions by income and development measures. Extraction rarely funds the roads, hospitals, or manufacturing bases that resource wealth should deliver. Raw ore leaves the continent while refining and manufacturing, and the jobs and profits that come with them, happen elsewhere.
The result is a continent supplying inputs for a global economic transformation it is largely excluded from as a producer of finished goods. Mining communities often bear the environmental and social costs of extraction without a proportional share of downstream revenue, while government treasuries stay exposed to volatile commodity prices set far beyond their control.
This is the structural bind that local processing and industrialisation are meant to address, retaining a share of the value that currently leaves with the raw material. The shift requires more than large mineral reserves; it requires sustained financing and industrial policies that support mineral processing at home.
