Lawyer Sam Okudzeto, a member of the Council of State, has expressed his opposition to the lithium deal that the government is entering into with an Australian company.
The mining lease grants the Australian company permission to mine lithium for a period of five years.
Okudzeto is now part of a growing group of individuals who are against the deal, urging the government to pause the agreement and reconsider its terms.
Speaking at an event in Accra on December 12, he emphasised the importance of Parliament taking action to align with the views of Ghanaians who oppose the deal for various reasons.
“The lithium agreement is not in the interest of Ghana; that is my view and if you will agree with me, then let us make a statement in support of the IEA to say that we do not think that this agreement is in the interest of Ghana,” he said.
On what MPs should do, he stated: “I don’t even want to condemn our MPs, we will caution and advise them to do what is right.”
Despite the government reporting the signing of some initial agreements with the Australian company, the specific deal regarding lithium mining is yet to be presented before Parliament.
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and one of its fellows, Sophia Akuffo, a former Chief Justice, have consistently highlighted the detrimental aspects of the deal in various media engagements.
In recent statements, the former Chief Justice lamented Ghana’s approach to exploiting its natural resources and how it has contributed to the country seeking financial assistance, especially from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to her, if the country continues to “sell” its resources cheaply to outsiders, then the cycle of going to the IMF for funds will never end.
“Gold, diamond, oil, bauxite, those are what we call traditional minerals; all these have been there. Since we became independent, we have been going to the IMF, borrowing, with all kinds of terms, and we ask ourselves why.
“There’s this adage that if you are doing the same thing, don’t expect different results. If this is how you are going to continue to exploit and extract your natural resources, don’t expect ever to be free of the IMF. It becomes like cyclical malaria,” she was quoted by citinewsroom.com.
Sophia Akuffo insisted that Ghana must make the decision to move away from royalties to exploring its own resources.
“We should be exploring; each year we should be looking at similar situations in terms of resource availability, resource finding, and what they are doing. That is what we are saying. We don’t have to go back into the royalties,” she opined.
She emphasised that there could be a better deal than what is already being negotiated and urged the government to ensure that the country is not ripped off.
“There are so many variations and modules, and somebody should do their homework to be able to be in a position to recommend a number that will suit Ghana. With all the figures and all that,. Simply ask yourself the question, is this formulation of an agreement for the exploitation of our national worth as good as it could ever possibly be?” she questioned.