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General News of Thursday, August 1, 2019
Source: dailyguidenetwork.com
2019-08-01
Ibrahim Mahama, CEO of Engineers and Planners
The Supreme Court said yesterday that the granting of three mining leases in favor of Exton Cubic, the company owned by Ibrahim Mahama, younger brother of former president John Mahama, was void, ineffective and Without effect.
He thus canceled the concession contract granted to Ibrahim for the exploitation of bauxite in Nyinahini Forest, in the district of Atwima Mponua, in the region of Ashanti, thus bringing a definitive character to the issue.
Main lease
The lease was granted to Ibrahim's company on December 29, 2016, while his brother, then president, had just left office after losing the 2016 presidential election.
At the heart of the transition, Mr. Gideon Boako, Economic Advisor to the Vice President's Office, Mr. Mahamudu Bawumia, stated that the lease granted to the Ibrahim Company by the Democratic National Congress (MAN) directed by Mahama was 58%. % of all bauxite reserves in Ghana.
A five-member panel, composed of Judges Julius Ansah, Jones Victor Dotse, K. Anin Yeboah, Samuel K. Marful-Saw and Professor Emmanuel Nii Ashie Kotey, found that, in accordance with Section 257 all minerals belong to the Ghanaian population. and the President has the same confidence in the people and that is why Article 268 enjoins all mining leases to obtain the ratification of parliament.
Brief from AG
The court's decision arises from a request from the Attorney General's Office (AG) challenging the decision of a high court in Accra that had granted a certiorari that was overruling the decision of the Minister of Lands and Resources John Peter Amewu, revoking the three mining leases.
The court, chaired by Judge Kweku Ackah Boafo, ruled that the minister had exceeded his powers by "taking" jurisdiction to judge the legality of the lease.
The court found, however, that Exton Cubic Group Limited did not have a mining right, as the leases were not acquired appropriately, as required by law.
It is this decision that the state decree filed by MP A-G, Godfred Yeboah Lady, was challenged in the Supreme Court.
He baderted that the High Court Judge erred in law in holding that the corporation did not yet have a valid mining lease and therefore rescinded the Minister's letter of revocation.
SC decision
In its judgment, read by Judge Marful-Saw, the Supreme Court ruled that the granting of the three (3) mining leases in favor of Exton Cubic violated the Constitution and Article 12 of the Minerals and Mining Act (Act 703) and, therefore, declared them invalid, void and without effect for non-compliance with the mandatory legal provisions of the Minerals and Mining Act and the Act. Article 268 of the 1992 Constitution.
The court also overturned Judge Ackah-Boafo's ruling last year in favor of Ibrahim when the High Court ruled that Amewu had erred in canceling Ibrahim's lease.
The Supreme Court stated that the High Court judge did not have jurisdiction to grant certiorari to protect a nonexistent right and warned the lower courts to exercise caution in making certiorari orders to protect rights that do not exist in law.
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