Suame MP John Darko has accused President John Dramani Mahama and his government of practising selective indigenousisation, arguing that their commitment to building Ghanaian-owned businesses appears to depend on whose interests are involved.
Darko said the government’s handling of the Narawa Mines takeover raised questions about whether President Mahama genuinely supports the principle of indigenous participation in the country’s mining sector.
He argued that the government could not claim to support indigenous businesses while allowing decisions that, in his view, undermine local mining investments.
“You cannot believe in indigenisation when it benefits your brother. But when it doesn’t benefit your brother, then you say, well, I don’t believe in it,” he said on TV3’s Keypoint.
He suggested that the President’s approach would have been different if the indigenous mining interests affected by the takeover had a personal connection to him.
“If Angelis was a relative of the President, I can bet you this will happen,” he stated.
Darko subsequently questioned the President’s commitment to the policy, insisting that the government’s actions in the North Ashanti mining case contradicted its stated interest in developing Ghanaian capital.
“For me, what this shows me is that the President and his team, they are really not interested in this indigenisation unless it benefits them. If it doesn’t benefit them, then they don’t believe in it,” he said.
He also questioned why an investment reportedly worth more than $200 million could be lost over an alleged $8 million debt.
“You cannot tell me that out of over $200 million investment, an $8 million debt should cause somebody to lose his mining right,” he argued.
The Suame MP further accused the government of treating foreign mining interests more favourably than Ghanaian businesses, pointing to what he described as inconsistent enforcement of financial obligations across the mining industry.
“They are not going to tell me that the mining companies we have, they don’t owe government. They all owe government. Some of them owe the government taxes. Has government suspended or cancelled their rights? No. We always negotiate with them,” he said.
He called for greater scrutiny of the process through which the mining rights were terminated and subsequently awarded to another party, questioning whether the required procedures had been followed.
Darko also urged the affected Ghanaian company to consider invoking Section 27 of the Minerals and Mining Act, arguing that the provision offers a process for addressing situations involving citizens and foreign nationals.
He said the government owed Ghanaians an explanation about the circumstances surrounding the takeover and the identity of those behind the new mining operation.
