Former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Sam Okudzeto, has criticized state officials for negotiating unfavorable percentages on the country’s natural resources with foreign investors.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, he described this situation as operating from a “height of stupidity.”
He said, while the constitution makes it clear that all natural resources in their raw state, belong to the country, and the President holds it in trust for the people; he finds it questionable why state officials go out of the country, and return with investors who come and exploit the resources, only to pay us [the country] meagre royalties.
“If the mineral is for the state, and the President is holding it in trust for us all, why do you allow some foreigner to come and take the gold, take the oil, and pay you peanuts, he calls it royalty.”
He questioned, “Should it not be that, whatever expenditure the person has made in exploring or exploiting, that should be put aside as debit? When the mineral is dug out, be it gold, be it bauxite, be it manganese, or oil; that then becomes what..., whose property? It should be the property of the state. The person who has worked, of course, needed to be compensated.”
He said, to compensate foreign investors and companies who come into the country to explore natural resources, Ghana should put in place a shared system that will ensure that the investors are paid a reasonable percentage as dividends for the work done.
He emphasized, “…and the rest of the money belongs to us. If we are doing that, we will not need to go out and borrow money. Why is Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and all these countries who now have oil the richest.”
PI/WA
Former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Sam Okudzeto