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.
Source: dailyguidenetwork.com
