Why Zambia is Turning to Ghana as Gold Takes Centre Stage

🇿🇲 EXCLUSIVE | Why Zambia is Turning to Ghana as Gold Takes Centre Stage

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama arrived late Wednesday afternoon in the Zambian capital on a three-day state visit at the invitation of Hakainde Hichilema, stepping off the aircraft alongside his wife First Lady Lordina Mahama into a formal military welcome that signaled the signifance Lusaka is placing on what comes next

Mahama, dressed in traditional Ghanaian attire, walked the red carpet past an honour guard as Zambian service chiefs and senior officials looked on. He and his wife were received by President Hichilema and First Lady Mutinta Hichilema, setting a diplomatic tone that blends symbolism with hard economics.

The agenda is unusually focused. Gold.

Zambia is recalibrating its minerals policy at a moment of heightened security enforcement. Just weeks ago, the Zambia Army shut down illegal mining hubs, including the Kikonge gold rush, triggering a mass exodus of informal miners and tightening state control across mineral-rich corridors in North-Western, Central and parts of Northern Province.

Immigration authorities have simultaneously intensified arrests of undocumented migrants linked to artisanal mining networks. The message from Lusaka is clear: minerals will be governed, not improvised.

Hichilema has been explicit about why Ghana matters; “We don’t want our minerals to create rivers of blood,” he has said repeatedly, pointing to West African experiences where gold wealth fed conflict and criminality.

Ghana offers a counter-example the Zambian government wants to study, adapt and scale.

Between 2021 and 2025, Ghana transformed its gold governance by expanding state participation, formalising small-scale mining, tightening export controls and building reserves. Publicly reported figures show Ghana’s gold reserves rising from about eight tonnes to roughly 35 tonnes over that period, strengthening foreign exchange buffers, stabilising the currency and generating billions of dollars in value through greater state oversight.

For Zambia, emerging from debt restructuring and having just concluded its IMF programme, such outcomes are not abstract. They are policy targets.

This visit builds on groundwork already laid. Zambia dispatched a ministerial delegation to Accra last year to study Ghana’s gold institutions. Hichilema himself visited Ghana in 2023. The difference now is timing. Zambia’s macro position has stabilised, foreign reserves have climbed, and investor confidence has improved.

The state is no longer firefighting. It is repositioning.

Mahama is expected to address Parliament, underlining the political dimension of the engagement. Bilateral talks at State House will focus on mining value addition, regulatory design, enforcement architecture and joint investment frameworks.

A Zambia–Ghana Business Forum will follow, linking the conversation to trade, capital flows and private-sector partnerships under the AfCFTA.

Security considerations run through every layer of the visit. Illegal mining has become a national risk, not merely an economic nuisance. Military deployments and law-enforcement operations have changed facts on the ground, but sustainability requires policy.

Ghana’s experience shows how formalisation, licensing and state buying mechanisms can drain oxygen from criminal networks while protecting community livelihoods.

For markets, the signal is equally clear. Zambia wants gold to do what copper has long done: anchor reserves, stabilise the currency and attract long-term capital. With copper prices volatile and climate shocks exposing energy risks, diversifying mineral governance is no longer optional.

It is strategic.

Mahama’s presence in Lusaka, flanked by ceremonial pageantry and guarded by tight security, reflects that shift. This is not a courtesy call. It is a working visit at a moment when Zambia is attempting to convert macro stability into durable economic architecture.

The test will come after the motorcades leave. Whether Zambia can translate Ghana’s lessons into institutions that outlive the headlines will determine whether gold becomes a pillar of stability or another chapter in the country’s long struggle to govern abundance.

© The People’s Brief | Ollus R. Ndomu