Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has warned that Ghana’s mining sector is facing one of the heaviest tax burdens globally, a situation he says is pushing investors to relocate capital to more competitive jurisdictions.
Speaking after a meeting between the Minority Caucus and the Ghana Employers’ Association on March 31, he said the engagement revealed deep concerns across industry about mounting fiscal pressures and policy uncertainty.
The Effutu MP said, “The cumulative burden of royalties, corporate income tax, growth and sustainability levies, dividends and ancillary charges has produced an effective tax rate that is, by independent analysis, among the highest of any comparable mining jurisdiction in the world.”
He warned that the impact is already being felt.
“The consequence is capital flight: Investment decisions that should be made in Ghana are being taken elsewhere, in jurisdictions with more stable and competitive fiscal regimes,” he stated.
According to him, the situation is being worsened by frequent changes to the mining fiscal framework.
“The frequency with which Ghana’s mining fiscal regime has been revised… has itself become a source of uncertainty sufficient to deter long-term commitment,” he said.
He added that proposals to shorten mining lease periods could further undermine investor confidence.
“A 15-year lease does not provide the security necessary to justify the front-loaded expenditure such investments require,” he noted.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the case for a stable legal framework is now urgent.
“The case made to us for a statutory stability framework, one that provides investors with binding fiscal certainty over the life of a project, is a case we found compelling,” he said.
The Minority Leader led a delegation of MPs, including Patricia Appiagyei, Jerry Ahmed Shaib, Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Michael Okyere Baafi, Fred Kyei Asamoah, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, Tweneboah Kodua Fokuo, John Darko, Frederick Addy, Gloria Owusu and Damata Ama Appianimaa Salam.
He said the broader engagement exposed what he described as systemic challenges facing Ghana’s private sector.
“The discussions… produced a consolidated account of an organised private sector operating under an accumulating burden of policy failures, most of them avoidable and many the direct product of legislative and regulatory decisions taken without genuine prior engagement,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin criticised what he described as weak consultation in policymaking.
“Consultation that takes place after a decision has already been made is not consultation,” he stressed.
He added that industry concerns are often ignored despite formal submissions.
“Industry bodies reported submitting formal written representations on pending legislation, receiving no substantive response and then watching their concerns be disregarded as if they had never been raised,” he said.
The Minority Leader said the Caucus will push for structured engagement with industry and stronger parliamentary oversight.
“Ghana’s employers are not asking for favours. They are asking for a state that engages before it acts, a regulatory environment that is stable and proportionate and a Parliament that takes the private sector seriously enough to defend it,” he said.
He insisted the Minority will continue to hold government accountable over policies affecting business and investment.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
