A high-stakes battle over the future of the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) has moved into the boardroom, as Prof. Kofi Arko Nokoe, Board Member and MP for Evalue Ajomoro Gwira, has declared his firm opposition to any privatisation of the state-owned smelter.
Speaking on the sidelines of a strategic retreat on Saturday, January 17, 2026, Prof. Nokoe supported the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), which has spent the past week sounding the alarm over a purported concession or sale of the national asset.
The legislator’s intervention adds significant political weight to the union’s claim that selling VALCO would constitute a “betrayal of public trust”.
The controversy erupted after the ICU, led by General Secretary Morgan Ayawine, issued a statement on January 14, alleging that “highly placed individuals” within the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) were “aggressively scheming” to offload VALCO to private interests.
The union warned that privatisation would sacrifice long-term industrial sovereignty for short-term “private gain”.
Prof. Nokoe, while clarifying that these specific sale proposals had not yet been formally tabled before the Board, admitted that the workers’ passion is both evident and justified.
“Well, it hasn’t come to the attention of the board yet, but I believe that the story of VALCO is a good one. The passion of the CEO and the people, the workers, and the department heads is a positive one. This is a company that has lasted so long,” Prof. Nokoe noted.
Central to the MP’s argument is the massive economic disparity between exporting raw materials and domestic processing.
He pointed out that while raw bauxite currently fetches a meager $40 to $50 per ton on the global market, a fully integrated VALCO could multiply that value tenfold through smelting and downstream manufacturing.
“It’s a company that the master plan should include, where we can have a refinery linking up to the end product. We’re talking about bauxite, a ton of bauxite selling at $40, $50. [Selling] that should not be because the story of VALCO is a positive one, and all it needs is support and investment,” he explained.
The debate comes at a critical juncture for VALCO.
On January 8, 2026, management announced a modernisation drive aimed at increasing operational capacity from the current 23% to 40% in the short term, with a goal of reaching 300,000 tonnes annually by 2028.
While the government argues that a “strategic equity partner” is needed to inject the $2.3 billion required for this retrofit, the ICU and Prof. Nokoe maintain that the state should retain sole ownership.
They point to the recent successful recapitalisation of the National Investment Bank (NIB) as a blueprint for state-led recovery.
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