Let me state the obvious that seems to be getting lost in the political noise: the approval that cleared Engineers & Planners Co. Ltd. to pursue the Damang Gold Mine was granted by the New Patriotic Party government. Not the current administration. The NPP.

In March 2024, months before Ghanaians went to the polls, the then Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, caused the issuance of a No Objection Letter to Engineers and Planners, formally clearing the Ghanaian firm to enter negotiations with Gold Fields Ghana over a possible takeover of the Damang concession. That letter exists. It is not in dispute.

So I find myself genuinely puzzled by the controversy that has since grown around this process.

The approval did not happen in a vacuum. Gold Fields had already signalled its intention to exit Damang, setting in motion a regulatory and commercial process governed by the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006. Industry sources tell me that Engineers and Planners had been engaging sector stakeholders on the Damang opportunity as far back as 2023. This is not how politically motivated deals are assembled in a hurry. This is how structured mining transitions unfold over time.

When a major operator signals its exit from a producing mine, the State has a clear obligation to act. Damang is not a small operation. Its closure would devastate workers, contractors, host communities, and the government's own revenue position. Any administration — NPP or NDC — would be expected to move to secure continuity. That is not politics. That is governance.

I have spoken to people familiar with mining agreements in Ghana, and the point they make consistently is that the legal framework exists precisely for moments like this. The rules are clear. The previous government followed them. The process moved forward accordingly.

What concerns me more than the political back-and-forth, however, is the bigger question this episode keeps nudging us toward and that we keep refusing to answer honestly: should Ghanaian companies be operating Ghana's mines?

Engineers & Planners is not an outsider being handed a windfall.

The company has been doing contract mining at Damang. It knows the site. It has demonstrated operational capacity. The argument that a local firm with that track record should not be considered for a larger role at the same mine is one I struggle to take seriously.

Ghana has been having the local content conversation in mining for as long as I can remember. We talk about it at conferences, include it in policy documents, and reference it in budget statements. But when an actual opportunity arises for a Ghanaian company to step into ownership at scale, we suddenly find reasons to be suspicious.

That pattern should trouble us more than any political allegation surrounding Damang.

The workers and communities whose livelihoods are tied to that mine are not waiting for political clarity. They are waiting for operational certainty beyond April 2026.

They deserve a conversation grounded in facts and long-term national interest, not one driven by who can score the sharper political point.

The NPP approved this process. Let that be the starting point of any honest discussion about what happens next.