The Omanhene of Twifo Atti Morkwa Traditional area in the Central region, Oseadeaye Kwasi Kanin V, has come under intense pressure from another legal suit against him by nine mining companies.
The plaintiffs are; God Made Mining Enterprise, Dana Mining Enterprise and Truly Shepherd Mining Enterprise, Follow the Shepherd Mining Enterprise, Nazareth Mining Enterprise, Better Shepherd Mining Enterprise and Servant Mining Enterprise.
They are suing for recovery of GHc90 million against the defendant chief and three co-defendants for the quantity of gold mined illegally from the plaintiffs’ concession.
They are also suing for general damages of GHC20 million, as well as seeking an order directing the defendants to undertake compulsory environmental reclamation and revegetation of the area mined by the defendants.
The purported reclamation and revegetation exercises are to be done under the supervision of the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The plaintiffs also want an order for injunction restraining the defendants, their agents and their workers from interfering with the plaintiffs’ mining concession at Twifo Atti Morkwa in the Central region.
The court was moved yesterday, October 23, 2024 to hear the plaintiffs, per their lawful attorney, but His Lordship Justice Samuel Faraday Johnson, who is also presiding on the suit by Bright Kwabena Obeng in a previous suit, prefers to give its ruling on October 28, 2024 whether it has jurisdiction or not, before it decides to entertain the GHc90 million suit against the beleaguered OmanheneOseadeaye Kwasi Kanin V, Okyeame Yaw Asamoah, Ernest Ahirlu and Wu Ming Ji as defendants.
The embittered Oseadeaye Kwasi Kanin V is already facing a GHC15 million suit for similar claims by an individual before a Kumasi High Court, for which the defendants have raised an objection to the venue and thus seeking an order for transfer of the suit to an appropriate forum in Cape Coast.
The first defendant has deposed that the disputed land lies in a mining concession at Twifo Atti Morkwa and that the nearest High Court (Commercial Division) to the disputed land is the High Court of Cape Coast in the Central region and, therefore, the appropriate venue to hear and determine the suit.
The plaintiff, Bright Kwabena Obeng, who is seeking to recover a total of GHc35 million, including seeking general damages of GHc20 million jointly and severally against the defendants, has reacted that the Kumasi Court has jurisdiction geographically to hear the matter on a full-scale trial basis, describing the defendants’ objection as materially incompetent, misconceived, and unsustainable both in substantive and procedural jurisdictions of the court.
The court will give its ruling on Monday, October 28, 2024.
