The Minority Caucus in Parliament has declared its support for workers of the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) over their protest against what they describe as a lack of transparency surrounding the company’s future ownership structure.
The Minority said the concerns raised by the workers should not be dismissed, insisting that the government must fully disclose details of what it has described as a “strategic equity capitalisation process.”
In a statement signed by the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Select Committee on Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, the Minority said the workers were speaking from firsthand knowledge of the company.
“These are not politicians. These are not propagandists. These are the men and women who keep VALCO running every single day. They know the company. They understand its operations. They understand its future.”
The Minority argued that when workers raise such serious concerns about the future of the company, it is incumbent on a responsible government to listen instead of hiding behind hurried press statements issued only after public outrage.
The caucus further questioned the government’s use of the term “strategic equity capitalisation process,” saying the phrase had created uncertainty over the future of the state-owned aluminium company.
It asked whether the process meant selling part of VALCO, transferring ownership, surrendering management control or pursuing privatisation under a different name.
“National assets cannot be managed through corporate jargon deliberately crafted to conceal the true nature of public policy,” the Minority stated.
The caucus argued that if the government believed the process was in Ghana’s interest, it should have “no difficulty placing every detail before Parliament and the Ghanaian people.”
Furthermore, the Minority questioned the justification for pursuing an equity restructuring after the company reportedly returned to profitability.
The caucus recalled that the Chairman of the VALCO Board had recently announced that the company recorded a profit of US$3.19 million in the first half of 2026, describing it as a significant turnaround.
“If VALCO is recovering, if VALCO is profitable, then why is Government suddenly pursuing what it calls a ‘strategic equity capitalisation’?” it asked.
The Minority also expressed concern over what it described as a growing concentration of influence within institutions overseeing Ghana’s aluminium industry.
It claimed that developments across the sector were creating conditions that could undermine public confidence.
“This is the very definition of the conditions under which state capture flourishes,” the Minority said, adding that the government had the responsibility to demonstrate that all decisions concerning VALCO were free from “influence, favouritism and predetermined outcomes.”
The caucus called on the government to immediately publish the framework governing the proposed equity capitalisation process, VALCO’s latest audited financial statements, an independent valuation of the company, the proposed equity structure, the identities of prospective strategic investors, and the criteria used in selecting them.
It also demanded the publication of all Cabinet, Board and ministerial approvals relating to the process.
“Ghanaians deserve facts, not vague terminology.”
The Minority vowed to oppose any transaction that, in its view, compromises the country’s ownership of the strategic asset.
“The Minority will not sit by while another strategic national asset is quietly placed on the altar of politically connected interests,” it noted.
The caucus cautioned that it would use every constitutional, legal and parliamentary mechanism available to ensure that VALCO was protected from what it described as opaque transactions and institutional capture.
“The workers have spoken. The Ghanaian people are watching. Government must come clean.”
