The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has held a crunch meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to discuss Ghana’s lithium agreement, which has now been withdrawn from Parliament.

In a fruitful deliberation on Monday, the Minister explained government’s position on the deal and the new vision for lithium exploration, following the recall of the agreement last week.

In his remarks, Mr Buah stressed that government was focused on crafting a deal that benefits the local Ewoyaa community and the country at large.

He, therefore, urged participants to offer honest and constructive feedback to strengthen the documentation of a new agreement between the Government of Ghana and Barari DV, the local subsidiary of Atlantic Lithium.

Responding to the Minister’s invitation, participants from the invited CSOs made cogent inputs which cut across Ghana’s royalty stakes, equity allocation, as well as salient environmental and community development concerns.

The views from the participants, which ranged from financials, sustainability, gender, and health and safety concerns, were duly acknowledged by the Minister, who pledged government’s commitment to incorporate all the criticisms and suggestions into the revised agreement.

One of the participants, Dr Steve Manteaw, thanked the Minister for creating an enabling environment to deepen stakeholder engagement in the management of Ghana’s resources.

Policy analyst and researcher at the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE), Benjamin Nsiah, also thanked the Minister for inviting the opinions of CSOs and urged government to continue to deepen stakeholder engagement.

On his part, the Country Manager of Atlantic Lithium, Ahmed Salim, who also joined the discussion, welcomed the views and criticisms from the various participants and called for more cooperation in the drafting of a new agreement.

Speaking at the end of the engagement, the Lands Minister reassured that the Ministry will continue to engage more stakeholders towards the conclusion of a new deal, adding that his doors remain open to further interactions on the subject matter.

Meanwhile, a series of other engagements are also in the pipeline as part of government’s commitment to harvest more inputs in making Ghana’s lithium discovery a blessing to all, the Minister revealed.