Dr Yao Graham Questions Ghana’s Focus on Royalties in Lithium Policy, Urges Shift to Long-Term Industrial Strategy
The Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Africa) is cautioning that Ghana’s mineral governance framework risks missing the wider economic opportunities embedded in the emerging lithium industry if national discourse continues to centre narrowly on royalty rates.
Its concerns come amid the controversy surrounding the original 10% royalty agreement signed between the government and Barari DV Ghana Limited for lithium mining—an arrangement the Parliamentary Majority insists breached the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2010, which prescribes a 5% royalty cap. The government has since tabled a revised agreement, reverting to the statutory 5%.
Speaking at the opening of an international consultation on Energy Transition, Critical Minerals and Structural Economic Transformation in Africa, Coordinator of TWN-Africa, Dr Yao Graham, argued that Ghana’s policy must evolve from a primary focus on fiscal terms toward an integrated industrial strategy capable of positioning the country within global value chains.
“The ultimate benefit from lithium is its use in producing commodities like batteries that drive renewable energy,” Dr Graham noted. “Royalties are really the bottom end of the chain in terms of what you get from the raw mineral. Beyond discussing royalty regimes, we need to confront the bigger question of lithium as an industrial input—what is Ghana’s plan?”
He emphasised the need for coordinated regional action, referencing Nigeria’s own lithium prospects as an opportunity for collective optimisation. “Acting alone will limit us. How can we, for example, work with Nigeria to maximise the possibilities of lithium? The discussion on royalties, important as it is, remains very narrow,” he said.
On his part, Executive Director of the Southern Africa Resource Watch, Claude Kabemba, said the continent must shift from being a passive price-taker to asserting greater control in the minerals market.
“We have a lot of minerals but lack the basic tools to turn them into useful goods,” he stated. “In the short term, because we do not yet have value-addition capacity, we must strengthen our ability to negotiate contracts and collect more revenue. We are in a position of power with our resources—how do we negotiate when the market is good? How do we become the ones who impose prices?”
Mr Kabemba argued that enhanced revenue mobilisation from mineral extraction would give African countries the fiscal space to invest in industrialisation and broader economic sectors.
The dialogue forms part of growing calls for Ghana and its peers to recalibrate their mineral development strategies in line with global energy transition trends, with emphasis shifting from raw extraction to downstream manufacturing and regional value chain integration.
