The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has called for sustained efforts to process Ghana’s mineral resources locally, describing the policy direction under President John Dramani Mahama as a potential pathway to breaking the country’s cycle of poverty.
He said Ghana’s ability to derive greater economic benefits from its mineral wealth would depend on moving beyond the export of raw resources to building domestic processing and refining capacity.
The Asantehene’s position was conveyed by the Essumejahene, Nana Okyere Kusi Ntrama, at the Mining in Motion Conference on Monday, October 19, 2026.
He endorsed President Mahama’s reset agenda, arguing that the emphasis on local value addition reflected a longstanding national aspiration to use mineral resources as a foundation for industrialisation.
According to him, the policy remains relevant despite the controversies surrounding the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), stressing that debates over the institution should not overshadow the broader objective of transforming the country’s mineral sector.
“Over the past year, the controls of the new agenda have become whatever we make of the minerals in the ground and the government’s mineral policies. Regardless of the controversies surrounding the Gold Board, there should be no doubt that the nature of the President’s reset agenda takes us right back to the very foundation of our republic, when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah sought to harness our minerals and move to establish a gold refinery in Tarkwa,” he said.
Nana Okyere Kusi Ntrama said the government’s focus on determining how minerals are processed and utilised locally was consistent with the vision of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who sought to link the country’s natural resources to industrial development.
He noted that the current mineral policy direction offered Ghana an opportunity to advance that vision by developing local industries capable of adding value to the country’s mineral output.
The argument, he said, was that greater domestic participation in processing and refining would enable Ghana to retain more of the wealth generated from its natural resources.
The Asantehene’s endorsement adds a traditional leadership perspective to the national debate over mineral governance, particularly the need to balance the management of institutions such as GoldBod with the broader objective of using the country’s mineral wealth to support long-term economic transformation.
