MAKING GHANA’S OIL MONEY COUNT: LESSONS FROM GOLD MINING (Published)
Even though Ghana is endowed with many natural resources, particularly gold, the nation continues to experience the “paradox of plenty”. Ghana’s gold money has not counted much towards national development. The nation wallows in poverty and under-development partly as a result of several challenges that continue to plague the mining sector and makes its benefits that are expected to be used to transform the Ghanaian economy, negligible. This study analyzes the implications of the challenges of gold mining for the nations’ burgeoning oil sector and argue that: “if the saying, ‘coming events casts their shadows’ is true, then what is happening in the gold mining sector may mean that Ghana’s oil money may also not count towards the development of the nation.” To ensure that Ghana’s oil money counts, the study argues that even though what pertains in the gold mining sector is painful and disappointing, it offers an insightful and useful guide to managing Ghana’s oil money to ensure that it counts in a manner that gives true meaning and effect to the nation’s lower middle income status in the lives and pockets of the ordinary citizenry
Keywords: Accountability, Gold Mining; Transparency, Oil Money, and Natural Resources.