Religious leaders in the country are planning to petition Parliament to halt Ghana’s lithium agreement with Barari DV Company Limited.
Pressure has been mounting on the government to reconsider the lithium deal following reports that Ghana is being short-changed.
Concerns regarding the potential exploitation of Ghana’s resources and insufficient benefits for the country have fueled public debate and demands for transparency and fairness.
At a roundtable discussion at the Institute of Economic Affairs in Accra on Tuesday, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Reverend Paul Boafo, and the Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheik Aremiyaw said the current deal is not the best for the country and must be renegotiated.
Sheik Aremiyaw said, “The mineral resources of our country do not belong to us alone but they belong to the unborn children. Once the mineral resources of our country are kept and entrusted, those who manage it do not own it.
“They are accountable to society, so for them to engage in any contract there must be a certain engagement where the people are satisfied. We cannot as a nation sit down and let this also go down the drain and let people take it away for us to suffer.”
Similarly, Reverend Boafo stressed the need for a revised agreement that prioritizes Ghana’s interests “I think that what we ought to do is to take this agreement, look at it critically come out with what we [Ghanaians] want.”
