Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Kofi Bentil, has cautioned the government against the enforcement of the revocation of Adamus Resources’ mining leases, arguing that the decision fundamentally undermines the state’s overarching policy to promote local ownership within Ghana’s natural resource sector.
According to the policy analyst, destroying a Ghanaian-owned mining business that has successfully operated for over a decade sends a contradictory signal to indigenous investors.
“It will do immense damage to the current policy to indigenize our natural resources and give our mines to Ghanaians, you cannot be promoting indigenization whilst destroying indigenous mines! halting this revocation can only have positive outcomes and proceeding to destroy a local mining business which has survived for over 10 years can only have negative results, so President Mahama, and Minister Buah….stop it.”
Kofi Bentil
Mr. Bentil highlighted that the swiftness of the revocation process raises critical legal and operational concerns, given the strict timelines outlined under Section 68 of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).
He maintained that in complex corporate and natural resource disputes, state actors should prioritize due process and allow operations to continue safely while contentious issues are resolved legally, rather than resorting to sudden administrative seizures that threaten local economic stability.
Legal and Administrative Procedural Flaws
A critical examination of the revocation process shows significant statutory irregularities that jeopardize administrative fairness.
Under Section 68 of Act 703, specific procedural timelines and explicit statutory notice requirements must be strictly satisfied before any mineral right can be legally terminated.
Skipping or rushing these statutory steps renders the entire administrative exercise vulnerable to legal challenge and administrative nullification.
Furthermore, executing sudden state seizures of commercial mining concessions creates intense uncertainty for corporate governance and asset management.
Rather than summarily shutting down an operating mine which employs hundreds of local workers and integrates into national supply chains regulatory bodies ought to engage in measured administrative arbitration to rectify alleged regulatory or environmental defaults.
Restoring Transparency and Governance in the Extractive Sector
The controversy over Adamus Resources coincides with a wider demand for heightened accountability across Ghana’s natural resource management frameworks.
Historical precedents in domestic extractive governance such as the early operational opacity surrounding the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP) and its associated Gold-for-Oil barter components demonstrate that lack of transparency routinely yields severe financial losses and erodes public trust.
While financial reporting and disclosure standards within national gold purchasing programs have since improved through explicit reporting in Bank of Ghana financial statements, similar principles of transparency, predictability, and administrative fairness must be strictly maintained in regulatory enforcement.
To ensure long-term stability, regulators must balance lawful compliance with the strategic imperative to nurture and safeguard domestic enterprise in the extractive industries.
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