The Board Chairman of the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO), Ambassador Horace Nii Ayi Ankrah, has waded into the ongoing discussions over the possible sale of VALCO to businessman Ibrahim Mahama.

Reacting to the recent demonstration by some VALCO workers, the board chairman said Ibrahim Mahama had not expressed any interest in buying or investing in VALCO.

He added that until the government decouples the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) from VALCO, there would be more demonstrations and misunderstandings.

“I keep saying, and I strongly believe, that until GIADEC is decoupled from VALCO, these are some of the things that we will see: misunderstanding, miscommunication, disinformation and stuff like that. For example, since when did Ibrahim Mahama show any interest in VALCO? It has never happened,” he said.

On the government’s efforts to bring on board a strategic investor, Nii Ayi Ankrah said VALCO does not necessarily need a strategic investor but rather an investor.

“I prefer an investor to a strategic investor, and my reason is this: a strategic investor would like to have control, and when we talk about dividends, we are talking about shares. But when we talk about an investor, he or she simply wants his or her profit,” he explained.

Ankrah continued, “VALCO, as it is now, wouldn’t mind if any investor came in and moved it further than it is now.”

Some VALCO workers, together with members of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU-Ghana), staged a protest on Monday, July 27, 2026, against what they described as attempts to privatise the state-owned aluminium smelter.

The protesters expressed concern over what they claimed were efforts by the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) to introduce strategic equity investors into VALCO.