National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, says Ghana has the capacity to solely run the affairs of gold production in the country.

According to him, there are about 5 to 10 domestic subcontractors in the mining sector, who when employed, have the ability to undertake mining duties that can compete with the performance of foreign companies.

“We did not have the technology and the knowledge of how to do mining then like we do now. These companies execute all the processes involved in gold mining, while the foreign companies only extract gold from the ores. They can run a first-class mine just as the foreigners are doing” he said.

In a live interaction with online network Woezor TV, the former President mentioned that the NDC has plans of employing the services of Ghanaian-owned mining companies to harness gold resources in the country.

“The mining done by small scale holders and others amounts to about 40 to 50 per cent of the total gold that is exported and that is a huge value product, and so government must have an interest in it and take control of that sector” he explained.

Addressing the issue of implementation, the NDC presidential candidate reiterated the establishment of a Gold Board, as included in the party’s 2020 campaign manifesto, which according to him will assist miners to undertake proper mining.

“There is the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minerals Commission which are mainly policy and regulatory bodies. But there is no body that directly oversees the implementation of regulations in the mining sector,” he explained.

Mr. Mahama also argued that the Gold Board will be a source of employment to persons with knowledge about mining, citing student graduates from the Tarkwa University of Mines and Technology as an example.

“We are going to reconstruct the whole mining concession area, and make sure that we identify and differentiate between small, medium and large scale miners,” he added.

He further said Gold Board offices will be stationed in mining districts, which will be responsible for the supervision of mining activities within the district.

He announced that under the NDC, the Bank of Ghana will be tasked to store a percentage of the gold produced in the national reserve.