While the fight against illegal mining is a national priority, some industry players are warning that the recent court judgment involving Akonta Mining, which is linked to Bernard Antwi Boasiako, known as Wontumi, could have a chilling effect on the very industry that powers Ghana’s economy.
The concern is not about whether people should be punished for illegal acts, but rather the unintended consequences of how the law was interpreted.
The Executive Director of Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) fears that the ruling could open the floodgates for “frivolous claims” and shake the confidence of international investors who value legal certainty above all else.
The Rise of “Frivolous Claims”
One of the most immediate risks identified in a policy reflection by Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), involves contract mining. In Ghana, many large mining companies hire subcontractors to do specialized work.
The recent judgment suggested that if a third party is allowed to mine on a concession, it might be legally seen as an “assignment”, which is a transfer of ownership rights.
Ben Boakye warns that this creates a dangerous opening where the judgment can create room for subcontractors to make frivolous claims against mining companies.
In other words, a small contractor could go to court and claim they now own a portion of a massive concession just because they were allowed to work there, even without the Minister’s official sign-off.
Scaring Away Investors
For global mining companies, Ghana’s biggest selling point is a stable and predictable legal system. Investors need to know that their multi-million dollar licenses cannot be “reconfigured” by a court because of informal arrangements or operational mistakes.
The report notes that inferring a legal transfer of rights based only on what is happening on the ground, without a formal paper trail, is “detrimental for investment and undermine certainty in the industry.”
If the rules can be changed by a court’s interpretation rather than the strict written law, investors may decide that Ghana is too risky a place to put their money.
The Problem of Mixing the Rules
Another major risk is what Boakye calls regulatory asymmetry. This is a fancy way of saying the court is mixing up rules meant for different types of mining.
Ben Boakye explains that Ghana has separate rules for big mining companies and small-scale miners. By importing penalties meant for illegal small-scale mining and applying them to legal concession holders, the court is creating a messy legal environment.
This lack of coherence undermines legal certainty because companies no longer know which set of rules will be used against them.
The Bottomline
The ACEP boss maintains that the state must protect the environment, but should not break the law’s structure to do it. Boakye emphasizes that “effective enforcement should not come at the expense of legal certainty or the coherence of the regulatory framework.”
To keep Ghana’s mining sector alive and attractive to investors, the State must pursue “uncompromising enforcement against illegal mining” while at the same time showing “faithful adherence to the statutory architecture governing mineral rights.”
