Very Fundamental Errors In Chairman Wontumi’s Samareboi Case

The Accra High Court on the Samareboi Mining matters on the case involving Chairman Wontumi and others against the State, delivered the judgment on Monday 20 July 2026. Unfortunately, some grievous fundamental errors were committed by the State with the charges. Firstly, by failing to acknowledge the following (a) that Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703) is well structured to delineate Large Scale Mining from small scale mining.

So, by Act 703, Large Scale Mining is governed with section 1 to section 80, hence including the contentious Section 14 (1) and Small Scale Mining is governed by Section 82 to 99, as dictated at Section 81 of Act 703, which clearly stated that Sections 82 to 99 are restricted to Small Scale Mining.

To show this clear distinction, Act 703 duly provided Section 14 (1) of Minerals and mining Act 2006 (Act 703) under Large Scale Mining Sector and state that ‘A mineral right shall not in whole or in part be transferred, assigned, mortgaged or otherwise encumbered or dealt in, in a manner without the prior approval in writing of the Minister.

The Same Act 703 also duly provided at Section 88 of Act 703 under Small Scale Mining that no license is transferable, suggesting that it is possible to assign or allot to staff or family members for a tributer system as pertained in the Small Scale Mining Sector in Ghana and provided the licence is still held by the legal owner and the operations are under the control of the licensee, who must account for the total gold so obtained.

So, the holder hence, Chairman Wontumi required to be guided by Minerals and Mining Licensing Regulation 2012 (LI2176) on matters among others on Mining lease and Small Scale Mining License, Environmental Protection Law 1999 (LI 1652) among others on reclamation and maybe Minerals and Mining Support Services Regulation 2012 (LI2174), on support services by registered Service Provider. Hence for a transfer to be enforceable in a court, the transfer must be supported with a written document or by a documentary evidence by the third party. Since any estate or land should be documented and signed by both sides before it can be enforceable in a court.

So the State erred with the use of Section 14 (1) under Large Scale Mining and not Section 88 under small scale mining for a matter on transfer if it was executed by him and supported the wrongful act when the State used a punishment at Section 99 under Small Scale Mining, as the corresponding punishment.

This action negates Article 19(11) of the 1992 Constitution which states that “No person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless the offence is defined and the penalty for it is prescribed in a written law." It may be that the State just wanted to punish him, unfortunately, the charges are defective. Hence a serious procedure error. As such, the imprisonment of Chairman Wontumi with a wrong procedure needs to be revisited.

Another problem is that the Civil Sector, has two type of offences namely (1). Criminal Offence and (2) Administrative Offence. The two are different based on the principle of in dubio pro reo means that when there is doubt, the decision must favour the accused. It works directly with the presumption of innocence and the rule that the State or the prosecutor must prove the guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The presumption of innocence as applicable to only in criminal offence, this does not imply for Administrative offence. In an Administrative offence, a separate penalty is imposed for each offence and not summing them in criminal offence.

Criminal Offence meaning a major act that harms society and breaks the criminal law, example theft, murder, rape etc, the prosecuting and sentencing authorities are separate, need to proof the guilt beyond reasonable doubt to be decided by a High Court or Court Marshal in the Military and by a full trial with the Court Marshal sharing the same powers of a High Court.

Criminal punishment include death, hard prison time, long jail stays, court fines, and the affected person leaves the prison etc. with a permanent criminal record.

On the other hand, Administrative Offence, meaning a minor breach of public rules or local rules to be decided by State Offices, the prosecuting and sentencing authority is the same person or are identical and not a criminal court, it only requires substantial evidence, often based on simple reports or direct checks without long trial.

Administrative Punishment include a cash fines, or warning, or cancellation or revocation of a special permit, and not allowed to hold any public office until after 10 years, no criminal record, against the person. Example ln the civil sector was the very sad Apiate Bogoso explosion disaster on 22 January 2022 involving a Service Provider in the mining sector.

For the tragic Appiate-Bogoso explosion, the government of Ghana punished the responsible company, Maxam Ghana Limited, with a $6 million total financial penalty ($1 million administrative fine for regulatory breaches and $5 million allocated toward support and damages), alongside a temporary suspension of their operating license etc.

So the alleged sin of Chairman Wontumi reportedly with a Mining license, if committed should have rather attracted an Administrative Punishment of revocation or cancellation or suspension of the mining right or license and an order to restore the place, if no reclamation bond posted with EPA/ Bank of Ghana for EPA to do so, that is failing on his part to act accordingly and this may not have contributed to the flooding as alleged. Thus the Minister or Minerals Commission and EPA as Regulators also failed Ghana, by not monitoring the state of affairs.

So, by Clause 11 of Article 19 of the Constitution, it was wrong by the Prosecution team to use Section 14 of Minerals and Mining Act 2026 (Act 703) which falls between Section 1 and Section 80, which are the sections which govern the Large Scale Mining Sector for an offence allegedly committed by a licensed Small Scale Miner, herein Chairman Wontumi, who operated in the Small Scale Mining Sector, which is duly governed with Section 81 to Section 99 with section 88 that indicate that ‘ a license granted under section 82 (1) may be transferred only to a citizen and with the consent of the Minister’ the catch word is not transferable , so the word assignment from Section 14 (1) in the charge sheet is totally alien to the Small Scale Mining Sector. So the citing Section 99 of Act 703 as the corresponding punishment is technically and fundamentally very wrongly.

   Comments0