By Rashidatu IBRAHIM
The minority in Parliament has cautioned against parliament hurriedly approving lithium and bauxite mining agreements on behalf of the nation.
They raised concerns of the procedure of approval prior to the agreement being laid on the Floor of the House on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, less than 3 weeks for the House to rise.
Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agboja intimated that major projects as these have impacts on the country’s economy, and need to be critically examined before approval, regardless the projected benefits.
“These are agreements that can have an impact on the economy and mining in this country.
What we are calling for is a situation where when these agreement are referred to the appropriate committees, there should be no attempt by the majority to railroad this and say that we are rising so we should ignore issues about concerns of mining in forests on water bodies and other things.
Be assured that you will not be allowed to cajole anybody to lay a lithium agreement for anyone to mine in a reserve forest. Even if it will give us 10 trillion, we don’t care. You will be forced to do the right thing and make sure environment is protected. It is our responsibility to approve the agreement and do the oversight of it,” he sternly stated.
On Monday, July 15, Ahmed Ibrahim, Deputy Minority Whip was among other minority MPs who resisted the laying of the agreements, citing among others, the issue of quorum and increased stakeholder engagements regarding the mining deals.
“It will not be nice for the lithium and bauxite agreements to come through parliament with lightning speed. We must allow the citizenry, academia, and all stakeholders in the extractive industry to bring their buy-ins.
Stressing that the house had less than 3 weeks to go on recess, Mr. Ibrahim cited the controversial Agyapa deal as a point of reference saying government also brought the deal to Parliament towards the the end of a Meeting at the time.
Being the first time the country is attempting to mine lithium, the MP urged the legislature not to speed the process of approval, to ensure due process is done.
“We have only took two weeks to go on recess. We think we must not over speed with such an important and precious agreement. We have found lithium for the first time. Do we have any agreements on lithium? If we got it wrong with other natural resources, can’t we exercise patience and fix our mistakes and get things right this time? No matter what it will be mined but we must be careful not to overspeed with it,” he said.
Mining lease agreements for bauxite, lithium laid before parliament
The mining lease agreements between the government and Ashanti Bauxite Ltd for the extraction of bauxite in the Nyinahini Block 2 Area in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region, and between the government and
Barari DV Ghana Limited for lithium exploitation at Ewoyaa in the Central Region have finally been laid before the legislature.
The two agreements which were laid before the House by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu on behalf of the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, seek the approval of the legislature to mine the two minerals in the stated areas.
The Speaker, Alban Sumana Bagbin has since referred the agreements to the Lands and Natural Resources Committee.
With the agreements now laid and referred to the Committee, the Committee is tasked with conducting extensive consultations and presenting their report to the plenary for consideration.
