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Akilagpa
cautions against hasty passage of Aluminium Bill
Accra, Dec. 22, Ghanadot/GNA – Professor
Akilagpa Sawyerr, former Chairman, Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO)
Agreement Negotiation Committee, has added his voice to
calls on Parliament not to rush the passage of the Aluminium
Authority and Integrated Aluminium Industry Bill.
In a Memorandum to Parliament, Prof. Sawyerr said he was
concerned that Parliament might be rushing to a decision on
matters of very grave consequence for Ghana’s industrial and
energy future without adequate consideration of important
technical, legal and economic factors.
The Bill seeks to establish an Aluminium Authority to deal
with the regulatory aspect of alumina production in the
country.
Under the proposed Bill, the Aluminium Authority would have
the power to undertake the evaluation of applications and
make grants in respect of bauxite rights.
Prof. Sawyerr said since the sale and purchase of 70 per
cent shares of VALCO was at the centre of the integration
project, the denial of commitment of the two companies, CVRD
and Norsk Hydro, removed “the basis for any rush to
restructure established arrangements for managing national
mineral resources”.
“Related to this situation of uncertainty about the
existence or otherwise of such an agreement, there are
several aspects of the integration project itself, as
announced by government, that require further due diligence
and evaluation to establish its soundness and how far it
would serve the national interest,” Prof. Sawyerr said in
the memorandum.
The current regime for the grant of mineral rights assigns
significant roles to the Mineral Commission, the Minister
Responsible for Mines and to Parliament.
The Minerals Commission evaluates applications and makes
recommendations, the minister makes a decision to grant
rights based on the recommendation and Parliament decides
whether or not to ratify the decision of the minister to
make the grant of mining rights.
However, under the proposed bill, the Aluminium Authority
will have the power to undertake the evaluation of
applications and to make grants in respect of bauxite
rights.
Further, the decision of the Authority may be exempted from
the ratification power of Parliament.
This arrangement, Prof. Sawyerr said, “would create a
monolith whose activities would lack the transparency and
checks and balances necessary in an institution dealing with
the management and allocation of critical national
resources”.
“Considering, further, that the Authority is expected to
hold ‘not less than 25 per cent equity’ in a joint venture
company to mine bauxite, the proposed arrangement would
concentrate in one body both final regulatory authority and
commercial functions in relation to the same field.”
This, Prof. Sawyerr said, opened up possibilities for
corrupt deal-making.
The Memorandum to the Bill states that the Minerals
Commission has given authorisation to the Aluminium
Authority to approve the grant of rights, concessions or
contracts related to the exploitation of bauxite.
However, Prof. Sawyerr said, this was odd and wondered why
the Minerals Commission would cede its power to a body which
had yet to be set up, before anyone knew what competence and
resources would be available to that body.
He urged Parliament to satisfy itself, by an investigation
in open session of the nature of the supposed authorisation
by the Minerals Commission, the circumstances in which it
was given as well as its basis in policy and law.
Prof. Sawyerr also asked Parliament to be fully satisfied
about who were behind the consortium of International
Aluminium Companies since the credibility and standing of
partners in the industry were crucial to the viability
prospects of the project.
Equally important are technical work supporting the
conception, costing and design of the project.
Dr Yao Graham, Coordinator of Third World Network (TWN), an
advocacy group, said the memo accompanying the bill was
silent on details of the aspects of the mining phase, which
total cost was estimated to be US$500 million.
He said it was important to establish the identity of
members of the consortium who were willing to invest over
US$4 billion in the industry at the time aluminium prices
had fallen steeply on the world market.
GNA |
