A Banking Consultant, Dr. Richmond Atuahene says Ghana does not need another institution to support mining in the country.

It follows proposal by the New Patriotic Party(NPP) Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to set up a Minerals Development Bank to support small scale miners to increase Ghana’s gold reserves in order to use gold to back the Cedi as a means to check depreciation of the local currency.

“…This is a major change that I want us to bring in to look at the management of our natural resources and look at how we can accumulate gold to back our currency and increase our reserves. That is where I believe Ghana should be going. These small scale miners we will essentially support them and this is why I want to establish a Minerals Development Bank to help our mining sector. We don’t only have gold, we have lithium and all other resources,” Dr. Bawumia said.

But reacting to this, Dr. Richmond Atuahene in an interview with Starr News cited similar institutions established for the various sectors and the impact realized from same.

According to him, setting up a Minerals Development Bank is needless.

“I don’t think Ghana needs another institution to talk about mines. I think they should really be thinking about the environment. Again, setting up a new bank, I have a different view about it. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah came with NIB, and Acheampong thought about Bank for Housing and Construction, Social Security Bank, go and ask the history of it. For me, I beg to differ. When it comes to development banks, I disagree with that. Number one, do we encourage destruction of the environment of which we are destroying. I have traveled far and near in this country and I know what degradation is. So for me, I don’t support that idea and so I don’t want to even talk about it,” Dr. Atuahene stated.