The Minority Caucus in Parliament has thrown its weight behind workers of the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) who are protesting what they describe as a lack of transparency over the company’s future ownership structure.
According to the Minority, the concerns raised by the workers cannot be ignored, stressing that the government must provide full details of its proposed “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 raising concerns based on their direct experience with 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 said when workers express serious concerns about the future of a strategic state-owned company, a responsible government should listen rather than respond only after public pressure through hastily issued press statements.
The caucus also questioned the government’s description of the proposed transaction as a “strategic equity capitalisation process,” arguing that the terminology had generated uncertainty about the future of VALCO.
It asked whether the process involved selling a stake in VALCO, transferring ownership, relinquishing management control or pursuing privatisation under another description.
“National assets cannot be managed through corporate jargon deliberately crafted to conceal the true nature of public policy,” the Minority stated.
The caucus maintained that if the government was convinced that the process was in the national interest, it should have “no difficulty placing every detail before Parliament and the Ghanaian people.”
The Minority further questioned why the government was considering an equity restructuring at a time when VALCO had reportedly returned to profitability.
It cited a recent announcement by the Chairman of the VALCO Board that the company had recorded a profit of US$3.19 million in the first half of 2026, describing the result as a major 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 raised concerns about what it described as an increasing concentration of influence among institutions responsible for overseeing Ghana’s aluminium industry.
According to the caucus, developments within the sector were creating circumstances that could erode public confidence and increase the risk of undue influence.
“This is the very definition of the conditions under which state capture flourishes,” the Minority said, adding that the government had a duty to prove that all decisions concerning VALCO were free from “influence, favouritism and predetermined outcomes.”
The caucus therefore 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 to select them.
It also demanded the release of all Cabinet, Board and ministerial approvals relating to the proposed transaction.
“Ghanaians deserve facts, not vague terminology.”
The Minority further vowed to resist any transaction that it believes could compromise Ghana’s ownership of the strategic national 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 deploy 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.”
