Privatisation and State Control—the Case of Ashanti Goldfields Company

Abstract

The tension between privatisation and state control was vividly portrayed in the recent largely financial crisis that engulfed Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC), a multinational mining company based in Ghana. This article discusses that crisis in the larger context of tensions between privatisation and the retention of control by the state. The discussion of the AGC crisis and its management is important because of the place of the company in the Ghanaian economy and society, its history and its international imperatives. The article also offers lessons on the formulation of privatisation policies as well as post-privatisation management. This is particularly relevant in view of questions being asked about privatisation in Latin America, East and Central Europe, Africa and the United Kingdom.