The co-chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr Steve Manteaw, has expressed concern over the country’s poor management of its mineral revenue.

Speaking to JoyNews' Benjamin Akakpo on the AM Show, Monday, he said the economic hardship experienced by the country over a period of time is as a result of extracting resources without a national vision.

This he says the ideology of maximising the benefits from mining has come to zilch due to improper policy on the mining sector.

"We haven't quite managed our mineral revenue very well. If you look at the mining sector, only about 5% of the value of the industry is retained within the local economy and that is not too good.

“The reason we are where we are is because we have been extracting resources without having a national vision in terms of what role we expect mineral and Petroleum resources to play in the national economy," he indicated.

His comment comes on the back of a virtual national dialogue on the country’s extractive policy organised recently by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) and the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI).

The program is set to influence government’s decision on it policy plan on mining sector.

Mr Manteaw further indicated that an integrated mining sector and the introduction of a policy to refined gold locally will help curb the illegal export of raw materials.

This, he believes, will leave a lot of room for improvement in terms of policies and laws relevant to the sector.

Refining gold locally, according to him, will also help create jobs for the Ghanaians and also generate revenue for the country.

“If we were minded to have an integrated mining sector in this country, we would have actually fraction outlaws that prohibited the export of raw gold. And then what you do is that you will refine your gold locally, you add value to them and produce jewellery and export jewellery instead of raw gold," he said.