Stand up for what our ancestors left us with - Businessman to mining communities on mineral exploration

Mining communities in some parts of the world, including South Africa, have a conducive environment and residents enjoy good roads and other social amenities.

However, the case is different in Ghana as residents battle for their health due to the inhalation of toxic substances from the operations of these mining companies.

In Ghana, mining communities such as Prestea, Huni Valley, Tarkwa, among others, are experiencing deplorable roads and people have lamented the impact of this problem on their businesses.

Inasmuch as these mining companies are to ensure that mining communities heave a sigh of relief and enjoy proceeds of their investments, they are rather being exploited, businessman Ben Nunoo Mensah has averred.

Speaking on GhanaWeb TV's The Lowdown programme, he asserted that the mining laws in Ghana favour foreigners more than indigenes, hence, the need for the law to be reviewed to protect the interest of locals.

The businessman entreated Ghanaians, especially persons living within mining communities, to ensure that all agreements signed between the chiefs, relevant stakeholders, and mining companies were beneficial to the indigenes and not the foreign business nationals.

Ben Nunoo Mensah wondered why foreigners own the majority of shares in companies and other businesses when it should be equal.

“Our mining laws should be structured such that Ghanaian shareholding in these mining companies should be more than 50 percent. Why should resources that have been given to us by our ancestors, our forefathers, be majority owned by foreigners? Especially when we see that these foreigners are not benefiting our people," he said on GhanaWeb TV's The Lowdown programme.

“It’s now up to them to stand up for what their ancestors have left them with. If we don’t stop pushing our policymakers, politicians to the reality on the ground, you don’t make them see how we are being exploited, it’s going to continue," he bemoaned.

Ben Nunoo Mensah owns 10% of the Barari DV lithium concession, which made headlines after experts raised concerns that the 13% royalties the government was receiving from the exploration of the lithium, dubbed 'the white gold,' were not sufficient.

He said that he originally acquired the concession for gold exploration but later discovered that it also had commercial deposits of lithium.

The businessman remarked that he considered the exploration of lithium because of its importance and potential benefits for Ghana.



SA/NOQ