The Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) has expressed support for the anticipated local takeover of the Damang Mine but is calling for strict corporate governance structures to accompany any transition to indigenous ownership, warning that local control without institutional discipline is unlikely to deliver lasting benefits for workers or communities.
Engineers and Planners (E&P) Company Limited, led by billionaire Ibrahim Mahama, is the frontrunner among three shortlisted bidders to operate the mine after Gold Fields is set to relinquish control on April 18, 2026, following the government’s refusal to extend its 30-year lease.
GMWU General Secretary Abdul-Moomin Gbana welcomed the broader push toward local participation in Ghana’s mining sector but said the move would only succeed if the incoming operator established clearly defined corporate structures, functional and independent boards, transparent financial systems and strong accountability mechanisms from the outset.
His central concern was what he described as the “one-man show” syndrome, a pattern he said had repeatedly undermined local enterprises in Ghana, including those in the extractive sector, where decision-making becomes concentrated in a single individual rather than spread across a structured management framework.
“If you talk about most of the enterprises that operate in the Ghanaian economy and also in the mining industry, local businesses, unfortunately, when it comes to corporate governance, haven’t done too well. It’s often been reduced to a one-man show. And one-man show businesses don’t last. Even if they last, it doesn’t benefit the greater good of the people,” he said.
Gbana stressed that companies operating without proper governance frameworks tended to fail at converting profits into sustainable development, worker welfare and broader economic gains, even when the underlying asset was commercially viable.
The stakes at Damang are considerable. Gold Fields’ own feasibility study estimates the mine could produce between 100,000 and 150,000 ounces of gold annually for at least nine more years, though restoring it to full production would require between $500 million and $600 million in fresh capital investment.
The transition has attracted political scrutiny, with Ghana’s parliamentary minority announcing plans last week to petition the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over the bidding process, citing concerns about transparency and a potential conflict of interest arising from E&P owner Ibrahim Mahama’s relationship to President John Dramani Mahama. E&P has maintained that its pursuit of the asset predates the current administration.
For the GMWU, those governance questions make its call for institutional rigour all the more urgent. Gbana said the union’s position was straightforward: local companies must not simply take over assets but must demonstrate the capacity to transform how those assets are managed. “If it’s a limited liability company, then it must operate as one,” he said.
The union also called on the government to engage the Damang transition process with the same level of structural oversight it would apply to any major foreign-operated mining concession.
