A former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Aaron Oquaye, has said technocrats, rather than political appointees, must serve at the Minerals Commission.

He said the current system, where Chief Executive Officers of the commission were appointed by political leaders, lent the entity to political control.

The renowned politician and historian, therefore, called for reforms at the commission to include a nine-member management team with representation from relevant technical institutions.

"The reforms should be such that the members of the commission will have a six-year mandate not coterminous with the President, and also have the mandate to elect its chairman," he said.

Prof. Oquaye added that making the commission technocratic was the best approach to ensuring proper regulation of the minerals sector in the national interest.

He was speaking at the launch of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) seminar series, an advocacy initiative for the review of the country’s natural resource management regime, in Accra on Tuesday.

Present at the launch were former Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Prof. George Gyan-Baffour; former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo; the Vice-Chancellor of Methodist University, Ghana (MUG), Most Rev Dr Paul Boafo; former Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, and former CEO of the Minerals Commission, Martin Ayisi.

Local mines chamber

Prof. Oquaye also said that as part of measures to reset the country's mining sector and make it more indigenous, it was important to establish a wholly local chamber of mines to rival the existing Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM).

He said that the GCM was set up to protect the interests of foreign mining companies in the large-scale sector.

However, Prof. Oquaye said if a local chamber were set up, it would focus on championing the interests of local mining companies.

He also called for the establishment of a local refinery in the country for value addition and job creation, adding that a lithium company should also be set up in the country.

Constitutional amendment 

Prof. Oquaye further called for the amendment of the Constitution to make prior approvals a condition precedent for mining leases or natural resource contracts instead of the current system of issuing leases before parliamentary ratification.

Again, he underscored the need for the renegotiation of existing contracts in the country’s natural resource sector.

"As a country, it is time to take our destiny into our hands in the management of our natural resources.

Ghana has been to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 17 times and the 18th time is waiting for us if we do not take proactive measures to manage our natural resources," Prof. Oquaye said.

He said that the renegotiation of those contracts must usher in a new regime that would ensure that the country got maximum benefits for the exploitation of its natural resources since the current legal frameworks governing those natural resources were not progressive enough for the optimum benefit to the state.

Framework

Other speakers included Prof. Gyan-Baffour, Dr Kokofu, Most Rev. Dr Boafo and Justice Sophia Akuffo, all of who reiterated the need to reset the country’s natural resource management framework for effective exploitation of the resource to benefit the country.

They said posterity would not forgive the current generation if the leadership of the country failed to undo the wrongs in the current natural resource management laws.