Professor Mike Oquaye is a former Speaker of Parliament
A former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has raised concerns over what he describes as the lack of parliamentary approval or listing of Ghana’s lithium agreement with its foreign partners.
According to him, no official document has been laid before Parliament, a situation he finds worrying and detrimental to Ghana’s natural resources.
Speaking to GhanaWeb Business on the sidelines of the IEA Policy Dialogue Series on Ghana’s Natural Resource Management, Professor Oquaye emphasised that Ghana’s Constitution mandates parliamentary ratification of all international and commercial agreements that bind the state.
He warned that bypassing this process poses a serious risk to the national interest.
“No order paper in our parliament has listed approval of parliament on our linear matter. If it suddenly will come tomorrow, it’s a different matter. Our constitution adjoins that there should be ratification of all such agreements. The foreigners are digging into them. They are working on the Indian side,” he said.
Prof Oquaye calls for end to royalty-based resource governance
He further emphasised that Ghana risks losing millions of dollars if Parliament does not swiftly intervene.
Professor Oquaye called on Parliament to safeguard Ghana’s mineral resources through proper legislation and documentation.
“The representatives of the people in the House we call parliament have not said it. When will they see it? How will they see it? What are the consequences of delay? Another cause of financial loss will come. It’s going to cost them millions of dollars for that and for that matter to our countrymen and women generally is that we must seriously interrogate this issue,” he added.
SP/EB
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