The Minority Caucus on Parliament’s Lands and Natural Resources Committee has accused the Mahama-led NDC government of “propaganda, deception and double standards” after it renegotiated and reduced the royalty rate in the Barari DV Ghana Limited lithium mining lease from 10% to a flat 5%.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, November 27, 2025, the Ranking Member, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, the Caucus described the new terms as a “publicity gimmick” that leaves Ghanaians worse off compared with the agreement signed by the previous Akufo-Addo administration in October 2023.
The Minority reminded the public that when the NDC was in opposition, it fiercely criticised the 2023 Barari DV deal which included a 10% royalty rate (double the statutory 5%), an additional 13% free carried interest on top of the statutory 10%, 30% Ghanaian participation through the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange, a 1% Community Development Fund, a 1% Growth and Sustainability Levy, and the establishment of a chemical plant for value addition, and described it as “a celebration of mediocrity.”
The Minority referenced an NDC press release dated 13 December 2023, which argued that the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2015 (Act 900) made royalty rates open-ended and subject to negotiation, insisting the 10% rate should have been only a baseline with provisions for upward adjustment during windfall profits.
Yet, the Minority noted, the same NDC government has now secured a deal that slashes the royalty to the statutory minimum of 5% while retaining the same company, the same “colonial” mining lease model, the same free-zone tax incentives, and the same allegedly weak provisions for a chemical plant that the party once condemned.
“What has changed?” the Minority repeatedly asked, pointing out that current lithium prices on the world market still allow the company to make “huge profits” even at the 10% rate the NDC previously dismissed as inadequate.
The caucus also rejected attempts by Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah and the Majority members on the committee to justify the reduction by claiming the 10% rate agreed in 2023 was illegal.
They cited previous mining agreements under both NDC and NPP governments, including Newmont (2014) and Goldfields (2016) where royalty rates were negotiated below or within a sliding scale different from the statutory rate, proving that Act 900 indeed allows flexibility.
Ampratwum-Sarpong further noted that the revised lease presented to Parliament still contains clause 20(a), which expressly states the company shall pay royalties “as prescribed by law or as may be agreed between the Company and the Government,” confirming the legality of negotiating rates above 5%.
Demanding an immediate reversal to the 10% royalty rate “already accepted by the company,” the Minority vowed to continue holding the government accountable and insisted that, at the very least, Ghanaians should not be left worse off than under the deal the NDC once described as mediocre.