Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Dr. Steve Manteaw has expressed frustration over the exploitation of Ghana’s natural resources by a small majority.
His frustration stems from the fact the country has been blessed with a lot of natural resources yet has nothing to show for it. Rather, the country keeps wallowing in abject poverty.
Speaking at the first ever National Youth Conference in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance, he cited the gains of other countries (especially the Arabs) and lamented over Ghana’s inability to make the most of the extractive industry given the fact that some ‘greedy’ persons have taken over the industry and are looting the country’s resource.
“The exploitation of Ghana’s resources is done by foreigners. That’s what I’m sad about. We haven’t been able to realize the full potential of our natural resources,” he said.
His comments come amidst controversies surrounding Ghana’s mining sector. There have been recent developments that suggest that Ghana’s mining industry is being exploited.
First was a documentary produced by Al Jazeera dubbed Gold Mafia which revealed that Gold worth US$ 40 million is smuggled out of the country on an annual basis. Second is a leaked report on illegal mining from the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) authored by Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng who was the chairman of the defunct Committee.
In the report, he cited a number of government officials as either being involved in illegal mining (popularly known as galamsey) or interfering in the fight against the canker. Despite the claims being denied by the Professor, he maintains his grounds on the claims, insisting in subsequent replies to the names mentioned in his report that his claims are true.
It is in view of the destruction that the Professor charged the youth to take charge of Natural Resources and Environmental Governance to ensure a sustainable environment.
“As youth activists in the sector, regardless of your academic or professional background, you can acquire specialized knowledge on the NRE sector,” he said.