The Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE), a civil society organization (CSO) Benjamin Nsiah, has lauded the takeover of the Black Volta and Sankofa mining projects by Engineers & Planners. He has appealed to government to introduce reforms that will reorient stakeholders in Ghana’s mining industry to enable Ghanaians play key roles in the sector.
According to him, giving local businesses a stronger foothold in the industry would not only boost national revenue but also enhance long-term economic sustainability.
“Gold has seen a lot of surges, almost about 50 percent surge between the last two years and this year. Imagine most of these mining rights are owned by Ghanaians. It means that our economy domestically is going to improve because there will be some level of capital injection within certain spaces and also level of liquidity absorption,” he stated.
Mr. Nsiah believes such developments highlight the need for deliberate policies that prioritize indigenous participation in mining operations.
“It is incumbent on us to also, as a matter of national policy, reorient and involve local participation within the space,” he noted in an interview with Joy Business.
He further stressed that while foreign investment remains important, building local capacity and empowering domestic firms should be at the core of the sector’s reorientation.
Mr. Nsiah urged policymakers to accelerate reforms aimed at balancing foreign partnerships with strong local ownership to drive growth in the mining industry and the broader economy.
“I think that we must ensure that Ghanaian businesses, Ghana as a state and other investors with dominant Ghanaian community participate in this particular sector to ensure that we get a whole lot of revenue from that sector,” he stated.