The Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has pledged to make sure Ghanaians own 100 per cent of the country's mineral resources if elected as President of the Republic. Dr Bawumia said his administration would focus on a paradigm shift in the country's natural resource management and ownership through policy framework to ensure that Ghanaians maximise benefits from her mineral endowment. The NPP Flagbearer gave the assurance during a breakfast meeting with religious leaders in the Eastern Region on Monday, as part of his nationwide campaign tour. 'I am going to refocus our paradigm for natural resource management. For the most part, Ghana has not maximised the benefits of our natural resources. 'Since the days of the Portuguese in the 15th century, gold has always been taken out of Ghana. We haven't benefitted much from our natural resources; I am going to change that paradigm. I am going to bring a bigger focus on ownership of our natural resources. 'It is as if right now we don't own our natural resources. I believe that if we do the exploration; and we are going to empower our universities and the Geological Service Department to do the exploration, once we explore that we have seven gold belts that we haven't yet discovered,' he stated. Once we have explored and we know that the gold is here, the new policy is going be that the ownership of those resources will be one hundred per cent owned by Ghanaians,' Dr Bawumia assured. Dr Bawumia's nationwide campaign would take him to all the 275 constituencies across the 16 regions till the first week of June. 'Bold Solutions for Our Future,' is the theme for his campaign, focusing on three key pillars: The battle of Ideas and Character, The Battle of Records and The battle of effective campaign. The NPP Flagbearer and his campaign team would focus on issue-based campaign, tackling cogent, practical and tailor-made ideas to deal with issues that are dear to the Ghanaian people. He would meet with a wide range of stakeholder s including traditional rulers, the Clergy, youth groups, traders, drivers, farmers and students, and interact with businesses and associations. He would visit market centres and other public places to listen to the concerns of both traders and consumers. Dr Bawumia would also engage the media, hold townhall meetings and continue with his regular stakeholder engagements with Ghanaians. Since his election as the NPP Flagbearer on November 4, 2023, for the December 7. Dr Bawumia had been very active in undertaking broad consultations and interactions with various groups across the country. Source: Ghana News Agency