Ghana must begin to transform her raw minerals to reshape fiscal policy and promote national economy and development, President John Dramani Mahama has emphasised.
He said: “It is no longer acceptable for Ghana to continue to export raw oils and import finished products. We must aim to eliminate raw oil exports within the next five years.”
“We must support the establishment of refineries and bullion infrastructure. We must promote mineral-based industrial clusters. We must facilitate downstream processing of our bauxite, manganese and lithium,” he said.
President Mahama was speaking at the opening of the two-day Minerals Commission maiden Local Content Summit 2026, which was held in Takoradi of the Western Region yesterday, on the theme: ‘Strengthening Local Content and Indigenisation – Building a Resilient Mining Sector in Ghana.’
For over a century, he noted that mineral wealth had been the backbone of Ghana’s economy, shaped the fiscal landscape, and funded national development.
However, he explained that while the country was the leading gold producer in Africa and amongst the top six globally, much of the high-value activity in the mining value chain—including advanced engineering, processing, equipment, manufacturing, technical services, and refining—remained outside the borders.
In 2023 alone, President Mahama reported, the extractive sector generated almost $6.6 billion in export revenues; however, local participation in high-value segments remained very limited, with domestic procurements accounting for only a fraction of the total sectoral spend.
He added: “We’ve been prolific producers, but we have not yet become full participants in the extractive value chain. This summit is about closing that gap. As we deliberate, we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: what will be the true legacy of Ghana’s vast mineral wealth 100 years from now?”
He again asked: “Will it be recorded only in export statistics and royalty payments, or will it be remembered as the foundation upon which we build world-class industries, thriving Ghanaian enterprises, and resilient mining communities?”
Botswana, President Mahama disclosed, had leveraged strategic partnerships to ensure value retention and citizen participation in their diamond sector, while Chile had transformed their copper wealth into a gold mining technology ecosystem.
Indonesia, too, had mandated domestic processing of nickel, thereby repositioning themselves at the centre of the global Electric Vehicle battery supply chain.
The lessons from these examples, he suggested, were to be smart, enforceable, and forward-looking, adding that local content policies did not deter investment but created sustainable competitiveness.
“The key is balance. Such policies must be both ambitious and practical. They must be firm but also performance-based. They must be focused not merely on percentage targets, but on measurable capacity development outcomes,” President Mahama stated.
He outlined a five-strategic-pillar approach to local content, one of which must evolve from transactional procurement to transformational partnerships.
The government, he announced, was reviewing and refining the mining legislation and regulatory frameworks to ensure that Ghanaian enterprises moved up the mining value chain.
“It seeks to ensure suppliers moved from suppliers of consumables to manufacturers of critical components, from service providers to innovators, to incentivise mining firms to build local capacity and not simply purchase local equity,” President elaborated.
To Ghanaian entrepreneurs, he emphasised: “The bar for quality and innovation is high, but the opportunity is unprecedented, and so you must prepare, you must build partnerships, and you must compete for our international investors.”
Moreover, he added: “The work begins now, and it is a charge to all partners—our Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, our Minerals Commission, and all industry players. Let’s leave this summit determined to build a win-win partnership for all of us.”
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
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