New Patriotic Party's Flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has pledged significant reforms in the mining sector to enhance its benefits for Ghanaians if he emerges victorious in the upcoming December 7, 2024, general elections.

Dr. Bawumia outlined that during his leadership, a majority of mining concessions in Ghana would be allocated to local small-scale miners.

He emphasized that his government's primary objective for the mining industry would be to empower Ghanaian small-scale miners, aiming to elevate their economic status, as reported by myjoyonline.com.

"We will allocate the mining concessions to the small-scale miners. My primary focus is to make many small-scale miners millionaires and multi-millionaires. I want to support our small-scale miners," he is quoted as having said while addressing small-scale miners and youth groups at Tarkwa on the last day of his campaign tour of the Western Region.

The NPP flagbearer expressed that instead of pursuing small-scale miners and confiscating their equipment, his administration would implement measures to formalize their operations and provide essential assistance.

"We will formalize the small-scale mining regime and give them a license. Everybody will register with the Small-Scale Miners Association with their Ghana card, and we will deepen the representation of the Minerals Commission and the EPA, and make sure that the districts that don't have representatives, we will give them some," he said.

He emphasized that chiefs would have a crucial role in granting mining licenses to miners within their communities. Additionally, he proposed amending the mining laws to decentralize key mining agencies such as the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under his presidency.