The New Patriotic Party’s 2028 flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has proposed a clear path to tackling illegal mining, arguing that Ghana must formalise, incentivise and support small-scale miners to grow into medium-scale operators.

Speaking during an engagement with the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners in Accra on Thursday, Dr Bawumia said small-scale miners were not the problem but could be part of the solution if properly supported.

He recalled that when he introduced the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, he deliberately invited small-scale miners to his office to ensure the policy did not disadvantage them.

“I wanted to make sure that in pursuing this programme, we did it without disadvantage to the small-scale miners,” he said.

Dr Bawumia said small-scale miners now produce more than 52% of Ghana’s gold, having overtaken large-scale miners for the first time, and feed directly into the Gold for Reserves programme, which he said had helped stabilise the cedi.

He argued that the way forward to protecting small-scale miners while safeguarding the integrity of the mining sector was to provide formalised operators with access to affordable finance, modern equipment, geological data and security of tenure.

According to him, this would enable them to scale up, employ more people, pay more royalties and adopt more environmentally responsible mining practices.

He said such support would also reduce the incentive for illegal mining, which thrives when young people have no legitimate pathway into the mining sector.

Dr Bawumia added that his 2028 manifesto would focus on practical support for engineers, farmers and miners on the ground, stressing that political tenure was short and governments needed to be ready to act from day one.

“If you are not prepared to move on day one, you are going to be in trouble,” he said.

Minerals Development Bank

To address what he described as the biggest barrier facing small-scale miners — lack of capital — Dr Bawumia reiterated his proposal to establish a Minerals Development Bank.

“This bank will be for small-scale miners to help them access funds for responsible mining equipment,” he explained.

“With the right tools, our miners can work efficiently and safely, building wealth for themselves and their communities without compromising the environment.”

Dr Bawumia said the bank would be established in collaboration with relevant state institutions, including the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), the Bank of Ghana and the private sector.

“We want to establish a Minerals Development Bank to finance viable local mineral projects and to mitigate foreign financing of local mining projects, which leads to heavy smuggling of the produce afterwards,” Dr Bawumia said.

He explained that many Ghanaian small-scale miners are currently forced to front for foreign nationals because of the high capital requirements of mining, resulting in limited Ghanaian ownership and widespread smuggling of gold.

Under his proposal, the Minerals Development Bank would assess the viability of miners’ concessions and provide funding that could be repaid with interest as the miners operate.

“This will allow Ghanaians to own 100% of their concessions,” he said.

Dr Bawumia linked the proposed bank to a broader set of reforms, including decentralising the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to all mining districts.

He also proposed the establishment of District Mining Committees, including traditional leaders, to issue temporary licences, as well as greater involvement of the Geological Survey Department in mapping gold deposits.

According to him, proper geological mapping would help end trial-and-error mining, which he said contributes to environmental degradation.

Other proposals include establishing a plant pool and common-user gold processing facilities to provide small-scale miners with access to modern equipment and processing infrastructure.