Ibrahim Mahama
The
Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the grant of three mining leases in favour
of Exton Cubic, the company belonging to Ibrahim Mahama, younger brother of
former President John Mahama, is null, void and of no effect.
It
has, therefore, cancelled the mining lease granted Ibrahim to mine bauxite in
the Nyinahini Forest in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region,
thereby bringing finality to the protracted matter.
Main Lease
The
lease was granted Ibrahim’s company on December 29, 2016, when his brother, then
President, was only a week to exit power after losing the 2016 presidential
election.
In
the heat of the transition, Dr. Gideon Boako, an Economic Advisor at the Office
of Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, said that the lease granted by the
Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to Ibrahim’s
company was 58% of Ghana’s entire bauxite reserves.
A
five-member panel, comprising Justices Julius Ansah, Jones Victor Dotse, K. Anin
Yeboah, Samuel K. Marful-Saw and Prof. Emmanuel Nii Ashie Kotey, held that in
accordance with Article 257, all minerals belong to the people of Ghana and the
President holds same in trust for the people and that is why Article 268 enjoins
all mining leases to obtain parliamentary ratification.
AG’s Writ
The
decision of the court stemmed out of an application by the Office of the
Attorney-General (A-G) challenging the decision of an Accra High Court which
granted a certiorari that quashed the decision of then Minister of Lands and
Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, thereby revoking the three mining leases.
The
court, presided over by Justice Kweku Ackah Boafo, had held that the minister
exceeded his powers when he ‘clothed’ himself with jurisdiction to determine
the legality or otherwise of the lease.
The
court, however, ruled that Exton Cubic Group Limited did not have a mining
right as the leases were not acquired through the proper means as required by
law.
It
was this decision that the state’s writ deposed to by Deputy A-G, Godfred
Yeboah Dame, was challenging at the Supreme Court.
He
averred that the High Court judge committed an error of law when he held that
the company did not have a valid mining lease yet went ahead to quash the minister’s
revocation letter.
SC Decision
The
Supreme Court, in its decision, which was read by Justice Marful-Saw, held that
the grant of the three (3) mining leases in favour of Exton Cubic was in
violation of the Constitution and section 12 of the Minerals and Mining Act (Act
703) and, therefore, declared them invalid, void and of no effect for failure
to comply with mandatory statutory provisions of the Minerals and Mining Act
and Article 268 of the 1992 Constitution.
The
court also quashed the ruling of Justice Ackah-Boafo which was given last year
in favour of Ibrahim when the High Court held that Mr. Amewu
erred in cancelling Ibrahim’s lease.
The Supreme Court said the High Court judge had no jurisdiction to grant certiorari to protect a non-existent right and warned the lower courts to be careful in issuing orders of certiorari to protect rights which do not exist in law.
Gibril Abdul Razak
