Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has referred to the allegations made by Sophia Akuffo, the former Chief Justice, about Ghana’s lithium contract as regrettable.

The government’s newly inked lithium lease, according to Akuffo, isn’t final until Parliament ratifies it. According to her legal perspective, Parliament should have been consulted before approving this specific transaction.

“My legal view is that it is a transaction that requires ratification, it is not complete. This is a document, it is signed and sealed and delivered but it is a deal that has to be ratified by a named authority, that is the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana,” she said while speaking as a Distinguished Scholar of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra on Tuesday (28 November).

She went on to say that, in spite of assertions to the contrary, this specific deal is beneficial to the nation and is nothing new from the earlier “Guggisberg-type” agreements that did not assist Ghanaians in any way.

“It is not different in principle in the substance from any of Ghana’s previous colonial times types of agreements, some call it the Guggisberg model, whatever description, all those agreements are colonial type of agreements, which over the years have yielded very little good to the overall benefit of the average Ghanaian,” she said.

At a press conference on Thursday, December 7, in Accra, Jinapor responded to the situation by stating that the people who are opposed to the transaction have not been able to provide solid evidence to support their position.

“The royalty rate that we negotiated for is 10% – all mining firms in Ghana from 1957 pay royalty rate of 5%. We successfully negotiated 10%, when you go to Australia it’s 5%, Mali is 6%, and Zimbabwe 5%, then somebody says it is a bad deal, throw it away,” he said.

“One other point she made is that anybody who support this transaction must have benefitted unduly, here I am, I support the deal, I must have benefitted unduly? No evidence? No basis for that?” Jinapor asked.

“When I went to law school first year, Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo taught me that the cardinal rule of the game is evidence, because this is brush to brush everybody who supports this transaction and more or less casts insinuation and compromise our integrity when we all know the rule of the game is evidence,” he added.