Economic Advisor to the Vice President, Gideon Boako, has said the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has no business cautioning the NPP administration against leveraging Ghana’s natural resources, specifically bauxite through its recent partnership with China, since the former sold 58 percent of Ghana’s bauxite concession to Ibrahim Mahama, brother of former President Mahama.
Mr. Boako made the revelation while responding to former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Inusah Fuseini’s caution against government’s move.
[contextly_sidebar id=”xg5S1xBiWC8yHmaACBimL3xS64ZNA7qk”]Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Boako said, “I want to ask the former Minister which part of the concession did they sell to the brother of the former President…? They sold 58 percent on 29th December 2016 when they were leaving office. The NDC government sold 58 percent of our bauxite concession to the former President’s brother. The one they sold to him, was it possible to mine or not. They should stop this argument.”
Mr. Inusah Fuseini had warned that the potential mining of Bauxite could see the Atiwa forest reserve in Kyebi and other natural resources in specific areas compromised.
But Mr. Boako in a rebuttal assured that government with the help of the Minerals Commission will not flout the rules as far as mining of Bauxite is concerned.
“We are in government. We know the concession that is viable and ready to be mined and we will go for that. If there is an area that we are not suppose to mine, we will not flout that rule. The Minerals Commission knows all the concessions in Ghana that have bauxite so if clearly there is a particular concession that is not possible to mine, the Minerals Commission will make that available to government and we will not be the first government to overstep the laws of the country to do something that is illegal.
“As far as we are concerned, we are talking about bauxite deposits at Kyebi… and the understanding we have from the Minerals Commission is that all of them are possible to mine.”
Chinese facility
The offer from the Chinese government was made during the Vice President’s five-day official visit to the country, at the invitation of the Chinese government.
It is the first by a high level government official since the New Patriotic Party took office in January 2017.
Dr. Bawumia led a delegation of Ministers and government officials to the Asian country in a quest to deepen diplomatic and economic ties, as well as create opportunities for Ghanaian businesses to form partnerships with their Chinese counterparts.
–
By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah