There has been an upsurge in mining-induced violent resistance within the vicinity of Keta lagoon in Ghana that questions the legitimacy of ongoing large-scale salt production by Kensington Salt Industries Ltd. Between 2013 and 2017, there was a series of violent protests and clashes at Adina and adjoining communities at the eastern banks of Keta lagoon, leading to deaths and to destruction of the company’s property and equipment. The upsurge of mining-induced violent resistance in Keta follows the displacement of thousands of indigenes and growing state preference for large-scale projects in the salt sector. The article thus questions the credibility of the company’s permits and calls on relevant state agencies to engage Kensington and the affected communities to address the outlined factors responsible for the resistance and conflict. This must be done in accordance with the minerals and mining policy framework as well as regional and continental policy initiatives that the government has committed to.
Since 2012, Ghana has been implementing local procurement regulations in the mining sector to broaden and deepen linkages between mining and other sectors of the economy. The regulations have been implemented in collaboration with the mining industry. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of how the local procurement regulations and related initiatives have been implemented so far. Primary data gathered with semi-structured interviews and secondary sources of data indicate a steady improvement in both in-country procurement and local manufacturing of inputs for the mining industry. There are, however, some challenges relating to tariff structure and support (financial and technical) for local suppliers and manufacturers to meet high standards and demands of the mining industry. This calls for a well-thought-out strategy and programme of activities to sustain and improve on progress made.
Ghana recently decided to embark on a massive industrialization agenda, because the decision makers in the country believe that industrialization is the way to create sustainable employment and achieve sustained long run economic growth. However, there are threats to this agenda that need to be examined. In this paper, we show that financing industrialization via typical domestic sources or foreign aid do not support the growth of manufacturing in Ghana. We argue that financialization threatens the success of industrialization in Ghana, because typical domestic finance and foreign aid focus on short-term returns. Using time series data from 1980 - 2019, we model the relationship between domestic finance, foreign aid and manufacturing growth in Ghana. The results support our concerns about threats of financialization. We recommend that Ghanaian policy makers consider using industrial finance as was done in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s to achieve long-term sustainability for industrialization in Ghana instead of using typical market-based credit or debt.
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