The University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG- UG) has called on parliament to disapprove agreement between the Ghanaian government and Barari DV Ghana Limited for mining lithium in the country.
This was stated in a press release from the chapter on Monday December 13 ,2023.
It was further noted in the statement that the deal appeared to be signed in a rush without proper due diligence , consultation and sensitization of the local community and Ghanaians as a whole. Hence the local agitations, suspicions and civil society criticisms of the deal as being inimical to the development of the country .
Speaking to this matter on Campus Exclusive earlier today, Secretary for the UTAG-UG, Dr. Jerry Joe Harrison stressed on the need for parliament to assert its role in scrutinizing the deal before approval. He insisted that the interest of the people be put first in every decision taken in national interest.
“…this is preposterous. Ghana owns the mineral and by virtue of the fact that international trade agreements have been so unfair to developing countries… the fact that we have been cheated on for so long does not mean that we cannot correct that ill. I think that there’s an injustice that we need to start correcting. And that’s why in our statement we said that, well, we should send a strong signal to all those whose business interests are inimical to the interests of Ghanaians. We are harming our country in a way that is so unacceptable and I think that everybody should be outraged by this deal because it doesn’t put Ghanaians first. We must begin to insist that politicians put the interests of Ghanaians first in everything that they do. Otherwise, they are not going to go anywhere.”
Dr. Harrison suggested that government considers taking loans to enable the country to mine lithium on its own rather than giving a foreign company a greater share.
“Organizations would definitely lend you money when they know that you’re going to use it to mine lithium and for which the returns are very obvious. The same way the lithium mining company is going around trying to get money to mine, we could also set up a consortium to do the same so that in the end it benefits Ghanaians. That’s the point that we are trying to drive home.”
Dr. Harrison is entreating all citizens to hold their members of Parliament accountable for every decision they make in relation to the agreement. He further pleaded with parliament to reject the agreement in its current form.
“This deal has to be ratified by parliament before it becomes binding. Our call to parliament is that, please do not disappoint the people… let’s demonstrate our ‘Ghanaianess’ by rejecting this deal in its current form and making sure that it is redone. That puts the ownership stake of Ghana higher than that of Atlantic Lithium. It is completely unacceptable.”
“And I think that the people should wake up and start calling their MPs out and telling them that if you vote to ratify you’ve lost your seat in parliament. Let’s put a pressure on our MPs. But MPs please, we are begging you, you are Ghanaians first before you are NDC or NPP . We hope that this time you are going to demonstrate your patriotism to the people by refusing to ratify and forcing them to go back and redo the negotiation so that in the end, Ghana benefits from its lithium resource.”
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Story by: Michelle Lartey | univers.ug.edu.gh
