Private legal practitioner Kojo Anan Ankomah has questioned the rationale behind the government issuing licences to companies that mine in the country.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa disclosed in a post shared via social media that several licenses have been released for companies to mine amid the calls for an end to illegal mining, which has destroyed water bodies and forest reserves in the country.
But in a post shared via social media, Kojo Anan Ankomah, who is a lawyer, questioned how these companies get their licences considering they have to get parliamentary approval before they can start mining.
He argues that if the companies receiving the licences did not do so with Parliamentary approval, then they are engaged in galamsey and need to be dealt with.
The youth of Ghana have been protesting for a halt to illegal mining that has destroyed water bodies and forest reserves.
There have been two separate protests to drum home the need for something to be done to protect the lives of young Ghanaians.
However, over 50 persons have been remanded for two weeks as a result of the protest.
Read His Post Below
All the alleged new mining licences, must go through Parliament for ratification. Ndebugre v AG established that the ratification is the same as an approval. Then authorities are legion (Woyome, Balkan, etc) that unless Parliamentary approval is sought and obtained, when required, the transaction is invalid and unenforceable.
So the question will be whether these new licences have received parliamentary ratification.
If they haven’t obtained them but are mining, that’s Galamsey and they should be stopped. If they have obtained ratification then Parliament and its MPs have to explain why they are ratifying them at this stage.
Discussion about this post