It's a shame our rich natural resources don't belong to us – Dr. Sarkodie

A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana's Economics Department, Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie, has bemoaned that Ghana gets virtually nothing from its natural resources. According to him, aside from the revenue from cocoa that comes to Ghana, more than 90 percent of the country's export revenue from other natural resources goes to foreigners. "National resources are supposed to be a blessing to us. It is supposed to be our asset, but we have given it freely. We have all these resources (gold, oil, bauxite), but they are not ours. The president said we are sitting on money, but we are hungry, but the fact is we are sitting on all these resources, but they are not ours. "Ghana is so rich with gold and all these natural resources. We researched the extractive sector and found that between 2011 and 2018, the economic rent (profit from the export of natural resources) alone amounted to $43 billion (that is about $5 billion a year), and Ghana got only 10.4 percent of that. "We have given away our natural resources. These mining companies are paying 5 percent royalties; it is a shame on us. We should be ashamed as Ghanaians to be receiving 5 percent royalties. That royalties within the shortest possible time must be increased," he said. The lecturer further stated that Ghana should be getting more than 50 percent of revenues accrued from its mineral resources. He added that the country must learn from countries like Botswana and Saudi Arabia, which have transformed their economies through their natural resources. Dr. Sarkodie made these remarks on TV3's 'The Big Issue' programme during a panel discussion on the ways to get Ghana out of the current economic hardship on Wednesday, October 12, which was monitored by GhanaWeb. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: IB/SEA