Africa-Press – Ghana. The Association of Local Mining Contractors Ghana, has described local content as the strongest tool to transform mineral wealth into sustainable economic prosperity.
They said, “Local content is not only about procurement or awarding contracts to Ghanaian companies but must be seen as a national strategy to improve stability”.
Mr Samuel Aboagye, the Secretary of the Association, said this when he led the group to deliver a presentation at the maiden Mineral’s Commission Local Content Summit 2026, being held on the theme: “Strengthening Local Content and Indigenisation: Building a Resilient Mining Sector in Ghana.”
He said, “When Local content is weak, the mining economy becomes disconnected from the communities, unemployment rises as well as poverty and illegal mining becomes attractive.”
Mr Aboagye said despite the contributions of mining to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product, operational communities wallowed in poverty, were undeveloped with limited opportunities for local businesses, which was a key driver for the illegal mining trade.
“We must accept that enforcement alone cannot eliminate galamsey. What will truly reduce galamsey is deliberate economic empowerment, and local content is the most practical solution for that,” he stated.
He noted that though Ghana had made a significant effort in building a strong legal framework to support local content in the mining sector with key legislation including; L.I 2431 of 2020, L.I 2173 of 2012 and L.I 2174 also of 2012, needed stringent monitoring, auditing and compliance systems, making local content just an attractive policy on paper but weak in practical outcomes.
The Association added that LI 2174 should not also be treated as a permit and fee collection instrument but as a structured pathway for contractor growth, supporting SMEs to comply progressively and build capacity.
He noted that fronting and misrepresentation remained a major threat to Local Content, aside technical capacity gap, financial constraints.
The Association said another critical challenge was contract rates in the mining sector calling for a higher rating within Mine sites than standard engineering rates outside a mining environment, a situation which affected performance, compliance and sustainability.
He also called for intentional opportunities for SMEs to create jobs and stimulate community trust.
Mr Aboagye said ‘Local-Local’ Procurement model must therefore be adopted and used by the government to ensure that specific categories of work were enforced for qualified community-based contractors and suppliers operating within the mining operational areas.
He said this model of procurement should not be treated as a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative but must be recognised as a strategic local development tool, aligned with national local content objectives.
