Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has urged chiefs in the Western Region to present a unified front in all dealings with mining investors, warning that internal divisions have already cost the region its full share of benefits from decades of natural resource extraction.
Speaking after being honoured by the Western Regional House of Chiefs at a special session in Sekondi, the Ellembelle Member of Parliament (MP) told assembled traditional leaders that the region’s extraordinary mineral wealth was meaningless without coordinated leadership at every negotiating table.
“One voice at the table when mining leases are discussed, one front when reclamation is being negotiated, one demand when community development agreements are signed, one voice when investors call,” he said. “The law gives you a seat, history gives you the right, but only unity gives you the strength to hold that seat.”
Buah, who knelt before the chiefs to underscore the gravity of his appeal, noted that oil, gold, timber, cocoa, bauxite and manganese have flowed out of the Western Region for generations without the benefits matching the scale of extraction.
“A region with these levels of natural resource endowment must be united to claim its proper place,” he said, adding that the chiefs, as custodians of the land, hold institutional knowledge no government agency can replicate. “It is our revered traditional rulers who know every stone, every stream, every mineral, every old boundary tree. We cannot rise if the region is divided.”
The minister stressed that unity was not merely a governance ideal but a practical requirement for stronger outcomes in community development agreements, reclamation negotiations and investor engagements. He said the region’s traditional leaders risked being sidelined in decisions affecting their own land if they engaged investors with competing demands.
House of Chiefs President Nana Kobina Nketsia V, who presided over the ceremony, acknowledged past tensions within the institution and committed to resolving future disagreements through dialogue. “As humans, there may be misunderstandings among us, but whatever differences exist have been resolved,” he said. “If there is any misunderstanding, we would gather as a family and agree on a solution to push the development of the region.”
The session was also attended by the Western Regional Minister, a member of the Council of State, and several Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs). Buah received a portrait plaque and citation from the House in recognition of his contribution to restoring unity within the institution following a five-year leadership dispute.
