Takoradi, Sept. 26, GNA – Mr. Bright Akwetey, an aspiring presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), said laxity in the mining laws had led to the country loosing billions of dollars in revenue.
He said the absence of revenue collection agencies in the various sectors of mining, unsupervised refining of gold and sale of gold bars abroad had made it possible for several mining companies to pay “meagre dividends to the government”.
Mr. Akwetey said this at a press conference in Takoradi as part of his campaign tour of the Western Region on Tuesday.
“Our present minerals and mining laws do not protect our interests but rather encourage foreigners to amass wealth at the expense of the country,” he said.
“We could reverse the trend in the mining sector if our graduates from the University of Mines and Technology are empowered with loans and supported to begin refining gold locally” Mr. Akwetey said. He said under-invoicing of timber on the world market coupled with huge economic crimes by corporate entities in the country was making the nation poorer.
Mr. Akwetey said the if the country managed its timber, gold and other resources well, it could stop borrowing from the World Bank and other multilateral agencies.
He said laws in the country must be implemented thoroughly to safeguard the economic potentials and interests of the country. “Ghana can export many of its processed goods to neighbouring countries especially orange and pineapple to earn the country several millions of dollars”.
Mr. Akwetey said when the CPP wins Election 2008 under his leadership the Aboso Glass Factory, Bonsa Tyre and other industrial entities that had been abandoned would be re-activated, to create employment. He said these factories, which once served as the employment base of the country, had been left unattended to.
Mr. Akwetey said private sector was part of the engine of growth of the country and not the engine of growth of the country and that state support was paramount to any development agenda of the CPP. He appealed to delegates to elect him to lead the CPP into Election 2008.
Source: GhanaWeb
