Dr. Mahamud Bawumia, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, promised to ensure 100% maximize Ghanaian ownership of mineral resources if elected, come December polls.
Bawumia announced this promise during his regional tour which began in the Eastern Region on Monday April 29, 2024, where he engaged in discussions with religious leaders, student groups and market women.
The current framework of Ghana’s mining sector creates the perception that Ghanaians do not have full ownership of the country’s minerals and this was made to refute such perception in the minds of people.
.“It is as if right now we don’t own our natural resources. I believe that if we do the exploration; and we are going to empower our universities and the geological service department to do the exploration, once we explore that we have seven gold belts that we haven’t yet discovered. Once we have explored and we know that the gold is here, the new policy is going be that the ownership of those resources will be one hundred per cent owned by Ghanaians,” he stated.
“I am going to refocus our paradigm for natural resource management. For the most part, Ghana has not maximized the benefits of our natural resources.
“Since the days of the Portuguese in the 15th century, gold has always been taken out of Ghana. We haven’t benefited much from our natural resources; I am going to change that paradigm. I am going to bring a bigger focus on ownership of our natural resources,” he further remarked.