Government has come under a barrage of attacks from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Stakeholders in the mining space over the military take over of the Northern Ashanti Mines- akin to a Rambo Style operation.
Former Member of Parliament for Obuasi East, Mr. Edward Enin condemned the act and described it as undemocratic.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the media Mr. Enin said granted without assuming that the company has violated the laws, that is not the way to go about seizing an indigenous Mines with the military.
Northern Ashanti Mines is an indigenous company and so even if you feel they have done things that do not conform with the law you don’t just take over the Mines with the military.
We are in a democracy and I don’t think even a Coup d’etat country would do that to its citizen”, the Former Obuasi East MP fumed.
The former MP explained that two of his nephews worked at the Mines and that the narration his nephews gave about the take over was astonishing and scary to state the least.
They said the military gave the workers one hour to remove their belongings and that they had to hire KIA truck to get their valuables from the Mines.
“ What surprises me is that the Nguvu Mining owns the Northern Ashanti Mines so after government gave the company a reprieve one would have thought that the Minerals Commission would allow Northern Ashanti to correct the wrongs.
But to take over the Mines and give it to Chinese is not right. The President must intervene. I hear he is out of the country but Mahama that I know won’t support this lawlessness.
Mr. Enin later expressed worry over how Ghanaian authorities don’t support their own and easily give out concessions of their own to Chinese maintaining that this won’t happen in Nigeria.
“Nigerians defend their own and protect their own no matter the circumstances”
What is happening is that the Chinese have the money to spend so if you don’t take care we would end up leaving our mineral resources in the hands of the Chinese at the expense of Indigenous Miners”, the Former MP fumed
Mr. Enin therefore appealed to the President to intervene and reverse what he termed lawless decision just as he did in the case of Adamus.
Meanwhile Northern Ashanti Mines Limited Company has filed an interlocutory injunction against the Minerals Commission of Ghana, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, and the Attorney General, asking the High Court to stop the three respondents from forcibly taking over its US$110 million mine in Konongo, Ashanti Region.
The court action was filed on 22 October 2026 at the registry of the commercial division of the High Court, and the motion is expected to be moved by the solicitors of Northern Ashanti Mines Limited Company, VINT & ALETHEIA PRUC, led by Erasmus Papa Akotey Quartey, on Thursday, 29 October 2026.
The Applicant (Northern Ashanti Mines Limited Company) is essentially seeking four reliefs in its action. They are asking the court to prevent personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces, the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), the Ghana Police Service, or any other security agency, and any person or company claiming any interest from or through them, from:
First, entering upon, seizing, taking over, occupying, or in any manner interfering with the Applicant’s possession, operations, staff, equipment, facilities, records and property am the contiguous Konongo Mining Lease area held by the Applicant, in the Asante Akim District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
Second, deploying, or causing, requesting, authorising or permitting the deployment of, military or other security personnel to the said areas, or any part thereof, for the purpose of taking over the Applicant’s mines or of enforcing or giving effect to the purported termination of the Applicant’s mining lease contained in the letter of the 1st Respondent dated 30:h April, 2026.
Third, “granting, re-granting, allocating, re-allocating, assigning, transferring or otherwise dealing with any mineral right over the Konongo area, or any part thereof, in favour of any third party, whether Ghanaian or foreign, including processing, approving, or concluding any application for a mineral right over the said area referred to in the letter of the Asante Akim North Municipal Assembly dated 18th August, 2026.
Lastly, taking any further step whatsoever to implement, enforce or give effect to the said letter dated 30th April, 2026, pending the final determination of the Application for Judicial Review filed on 21 October, 2026, and for such further or other order(s) as this Honourable Court may deem fit.
In a related development, Northern Ashanti Mines Limited has also filed an application for judicial review at the High Court in Accra, challenging the termination of its mining lease covering the Konongo area in the Ashanti Region.
The judicial review application, directed at the Minerals Commission, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, and the Attorney-General, seeks to have the decision to terminate the company’s lease declared unlawful and quashed.
The court documents, sighted by the media identify a letter dated April 30, 2026, signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, as the instrument communicating the termination.
The company argues that the decision was taken without lawful authority and in breach of mandatory procedures under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), and the Minerals and Mining (Licensing) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2176).
