The dangerous contradiction at the heart of Ghana's resource nationalism debate

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• JANKROMAH 1 month ago

  MASSA, we have heard this before....
  We were mining gold centuries before GOLDFIELDS and others wae.
  Thank you Goldfields...but there is never a perfect time....to move on. If after 70 years, we have cold feet then so be it ...
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  MASSA, we have heard this before....
  We were mining gold centuries before GOLDFIELDS and others wae.
  Thank you Goldfields...but there is never a perfect time....to move on. If after 70 years, we have cold feet then so be it.
  NO, IT IS LOCAL OWNERSHIP NOW.
  
  We may stumble a bit, but that is how to make progress.

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• Lord Hamah 1 month ago

  100%local ownership. Enough of Gold Fields and foreign mineral interests and capital flight!

  100%local ownership. Enough of Gold Fields and foreign mineral interests and capital flight!

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• Yaa 1 month ago

  Mining is not an industry fuelled by slogans. It is a business that runs and thrives on:
  1. Smooth and long-term policy,
  2. Careful planning,
  3. Ready access to large amounts of capital,
  4. Technical expertise,
  5. Tr ...
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  Mining is not an industry fuelled by slogans. It is a business that runs and thrives on:
  1. Smooth and long-term policy,
  2. Careful planning,
  3. Ready access to large amounts of capital,
  4. Technical expertise,
  5. Trained labour,
  6. Close attention to health and safety,
  7. Pure discipline - willingness to ignore the urge to gratify the instinct for instant gratification.
  
  Any Ghanaian agency or company that can offer any of these things should be welcome to bid for a licence to do that. What Ghanaians must no do is allow themselves to be sweet-talked into an idea of "local ownership" that bears no relation to reality and is just about wishful thinking........or slogans.

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• Okponglo Guy 1 month ago

  The type of discourse that should be promoted.

  The type of discourse that should be promoted.

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• D. Akulaa 1 month ago

  The IEA isn’t wrong ─ your faith in foreign firms is.
  
  Your argument that Ghana lacks the capacity to operate a 500,000-ounce mine is laughable. It’s the same tired excuse used to justify colonial-era resource extract ...
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  The IEA isn’t wrong ─ your faith in foreign firms is.
  
  Your argument that Ghana lacks the capacity to operate a 500,000-ounce mine is laughable. It’s the same tired excuse used to justify colonial-era resource extraction: "You’re not ready." Meanwhile, billions in gold profits leave Ghana every year, while our people remain poor. You call the IEA’s push "self-defeating," but what’s truly self-defeating is watching our wealth vanish into foreign bank accounts while local businesses scramble for scraps from the table.
  
  You cite Gold Fields’ local procurement and community funds as proof of their virtue, but let’s be clear: 93% local spending means 7% still leaks out (7% of billions). And that’s just the spending. The ownership? The control? Still firmly in foreign hands. The $110 million in community development is a rounding error compared to the value of the gold extracted. You’re celebrating crumbs while the cake disappears.
  
  And spare me the fearmongering about "investment climate." Aliko Dangote didn’t wait for foreign validation to build Africa’s largest refinery. He didn’t whine about "policy uncertainty" or "capital flight"─ he built. Yet here you are, clutching your pearls over the idea that Ghanaians might ─ gasp ─ own their own resources. Your lack of faith in your own country is the real threat to progress.
  
  You want alternatives? Fine. But don’t pretend that handing renewals to foreign firms on a silver platter is the only way. The IEA’s demand isn’t about capacity ─ it’s about who controls the wealth. And right now, it’s not us.
  
  So sit down. The adults are talking.

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