Open Letter To George Soros: Is Ghana A Resource-Poor Country?

Politics does work better when citizens are guided by a sense of right or wrong rather than sheer expediency- Mr. George Soros, Hungarian-born US Investor and Philanthropist.

It is an established fact that the economy of Ghana has largely been built on the centuries of gold mining and other natural minerals including diamond, bauxite and manganese. According to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Collins Dauda, during the recently held 8th West African Mining and Power Conference and Exhibition (WAMPOC) in Accra, an estimated US$10 billion has been invested in the mineral and mining sector from 1980 to 2009, which is the leading export sector.


The mining sector, according to the Lands and Natural Resource Minister, contributes 12 percent of government revenue and 5.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), whereas some 24,000 people are employed by the large scale sector, comprising eight companies producing gold and one each producing bauxite and manganese. Without shred of any doubts, the resurgence in mining investment in Ghana since the 1980s has played a key role in improving the national economy, as well as reducing poverty at the national and local levels.


These explain the fact that Ghana is endowed with natural minerals and that even earned her the name “Gold Coast” by European merchants. It is, therefore, not surprising that Ghana still ranks among the top-10 gold producing nations in the world. In the wake of the important contributions of minerals to the economy of Ghana, can the country be described as resource-poor barring the emerging oil and gas sector?


This article is making analysis of the statement made by George Soros in his foreword in the book titled “Escaping the Resource Curse” and to seek for his response. He stated that Ghana and Burkina Faso are resource-poor countries. What do you make from this? Is Ghana really a resource-poor country?

George Soros is the Chairman of Soros Fund Management, LLC and founder of the Open Society Institute. He was born in Budapest in 1930. Mr. Soros is the author of 11 books, including most recently “The Soros Lectures at the Central European University”. He is a billionaire philanthropist who has the Soros Foundation Network active in more than 50 countries around the world. He stands influential in the world body of politics and socio-economic development.


In the ever-unique and informative book “Escaping the Resource Curse” co-authored by Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey D. Sachs and Joseph E. Stiglitz, George Soros foreworded “The Congo, Angola, and Sudan have been torn by civil strife, and Nigeria suffers from endemic corruption, while resource-poor countries such as Burkina Faso and Ghana are equally poor but more peaceful and democratic”.


Given this premise, Ghana was described as a resource-poor country because may be at the time the book was written, that is in 2007, the country had not discovered oil. Even with that analogy, can a country being ranked among the top-10 gold producing countries be regarded as resource-poor. With my education and extensive research work, I have come to learn that Ghana is endowed with a lot of natural resources and that even account for the reason why the curious phenomenon the “Paradox of Plenty” has registered its feat in the country. Gold mining, though centuries old, has not brought significant improvements to local communities and the country at large. It has rather exacerbated poverty and contributed to serious environmental damages in exploiting areas.


With his outstanding pedigree and enormous contributions to poverty reduction efforts in many countries, I am hoping Mr. George Soros educates me on this very confusing fact. I am seriously attached to the book “Escaping the Resource Curse” and the statement by George Soros remains the only aspect that has rendered me partly confused. Being an experienced writer and educationist, this statement that ‘Ghana is a resource-poor country’ I know would be demystified. I should like to use this platform to seek for views on the subject for the purpose of analysis. I am not trying to pick holes in the foreword written but to know exactly what the fact is.

Making clear this issue will go a long way to help the youth in advocating for right issues in Ghana’s extractive industry based on accurate facts. Nonetheless, the foreword was exceptional and provides direction for resource-rich countries. Thank you for your concern.





Sincerely,





Stephen Yeboah, National Co-ordinator for Osagyefo Network for Rural Development, an NGO based in Kumasi [email: stephenyeboah110@yahoo.com]