Why should the majority of our mineral resources be owned by foreigners? - Businessman quizzes

A businessman and President of the Ghana Olympic Committee, Ben Nunoo Mensah, has expressed concern about the rapid increase in foreign ownership of Ghana’s mineral resources.

Speaking exclusively with Daniel Oduro on The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV, the businessman, who currently owns a 10% stake in Lithium mining, attributed the issue of the majority of foreign ownership in the country's mineral resources to the country’s mining laws.

According to him, indigenous people do not benefit sufficiently from the mining of resources as a result of how a significant percentage of ownership is held by foreigners.

“… we need to be doing more especially when we are beginning to realize that if we don’t start acting now, most of our resources that should rather go to the benefit of our people are going outside and going to the benefit of foreigners…," he said.

He, therefore, charged Ghanaians to speak out about troubling issues affecting the country, particularly regarding the exploitation of natural resources by these foreign companies, encouraging them to engage policymakers and politicians to address these concerns.

He further believes that the state must have majority ownership in these concessions to generate enough revenue to develop the country for the benefit of citizens.

“Well, I have said on several platforms that its about time mining companies in Ghana are more than 50% owned by indigenous Ghanaians or the state. If it's Ghana that maybe has free carry plus whatever individual Ghanaians have in the mining company, it should be more than 50%.

“Government will always have an interest, government will always have a free interest stake together with what individual Ghanaians or individual Ghanaian companies own, should be more than 50… That is the only way then we can maximize or we will have majority of the benefits that come from mining of these resources which is rightly so. Ghanaians must benefit from the resources that God, in his own kindness, put us where we are now and not being exploited in a way by foreigners…”, he told Daniel Oduro.

Watch full interview here



MAG/AE