A renowned business executive and former Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields, Sir Sam Jonah, has revealed that Ghana’s government has sold all its shares in AngloGold Ashanti.
According to the business mogul, Ghana sold 30% of its shares in the company in 1994.
However, the rest of the 25% was sold after the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
He described the turnout of events as shameful as he bemoaned the low level of ownership the country has in major companies and businesses that are run locally.
According to him, no Ghanaian has any shares in any of the mines in the country.
Speaking on GTV’s BBUM show on September 25, 2022, he said: “Ghana’s government has 10 percent interest in all the mines but beyond the government, there is no Ghanaian who has [even] 2 percent shares in the mines. Ghana’s government has 55%, and they sold their interest from 55% to 25% in 1994.
“So, the Ghana government sold and took 400million dollars out and so Ghana government became 25% and not a 55% shareholder and later on we merged and became AngloGold Ashanti.
“And currently, as we speak, it has zero equity interest in AngloGold Ashanti. The Ghana government had 10 percent in the mines, like Obuasi etc, but as the company that merged, the Ghana government has zero percent of AngloGold Ashanti, which is a shame because we sold,” he said.
Sam Jonah also stated that in South Africa, all the mines are owned by South Africans which meant that profit was not expatriated and that accounted for Johannesburg’s recognition as a gold mining city.
Meanwhile, as Ghana currently faces harsh economic crisis, trade unions have asked the government to institute some laws that will ensure that foreigners who do business in Ghana retain a percentage of their profit in the country.
They believe that this will help address the rapid depreciation of the cedi.
