Citizen Eye Ghana founder Alex Tetteh is urging civil society and religious groups to push businessman Ibrahim Mahama, the president’s brother, toward a bigger role in mineral wealth.
Tetteh argues that Ghana’s natural resources should generate lasting prosperity for ordinary citizens rather than benefiting a small circle of individuals and foreign investors. He wants civil society organisations, churches, mosques and traditional leaders to rally behind figures with the financial capacity and a track record of national investment, and to press them toward greater involvement in how the country’s minerals are developed and managed.
Ibrahim Mahama founded Engineers and Planners, widely described as West Africa’s largest indigenous-owned mining company, and holds stakes in businesses spanning cement, agriculture and real estate. He is the younger brother of President John Dramani Mahama, a family tie that gives Tetteh’s appeal added weight and raises questions about the concentration of influence over the same mineral sector policy his brother’s government oversees.
Tetteh pointed to a pattern of philanthropy he says supports his case, though most of the specific examples come from his own account rather than independent confirmation. He cited Ibrahim Mahama’s long-running, fully self-funded dormitory project at his alma mater, Tamale Senior High School, which has expanded over several years and now stands at roughly 1,600 beds, well beyond the 550-bed figure Tetteh cited. He also referenced the Joyce Tamakloe Cancer Foundation, named for Mahama’s late mother, along with reported support for individual medical cases, a corporate contribution to the Black Stars football team and the reported use of Mahama’s private aircraft as an air ambulance, though NewsGhana could not independently verify each instance.
“The resources of Ghana belong to Ghanaians,” Tetteh said, arguing the debate should center on value addition, local ownership and industrialisation rather than simply exporting raw minerals.
His appeal lands amid ongoing public debate over how Ghana can extract greater economic benefit from its mineral wealth, though it stops short of proposing any specific policy or role for Mahama within government.
