Dr Yao Graham calls for clear strategy on Ghana’s critical minerals
Dr. Yao Graham, Coordinator of Third World Network Africa, is urging the development of a well-defined national framework for managing Ghana’s critical minerals, stressing their importance in advancing Africa’s broader economic transformation agenda.
During an appearance on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, he stated: “We need to develop a proper strategy for the exploitation of critical minerals. It’s also an opportunity for advancing Africa’s structural economic transformation. And that, in a microcosm, is what Ghana’s project around critical minerals should be about.”
In a related development, the Minority Caucus on the Lands and Natural Resources Committee of Parliament has taken issue with government over the revised lithium mining lease with Barari DV Ghana Limited, describing the updated terms as harmful to the national interest.
A statement issued by the Committee’s Ranking Member, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong—who is also the NPP MP for Mampong—accuses government of attempting to defend a move to lower the royalty rate from 10 per cent to five per cent. The Minority argues that this reduction would leave the country at a disadvantage.
They also pointed out that the NPP administration had previously agreed to the 10 per cent rate in October 2023, a figure the then-opposition NDC, now in government, dismissed at the time as “mediocre.”
The Caucus questioned what had changed to justify slashing the rate by half, insisting that Barari’s operations would continue to be highly profitable even if the higher royalty were maintained.
