The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, has pushed back against growing calls for the repeal of L.I. 2462 in its entirety, stating that the government has chosen instead to amend only the problematic clauses relating to presidential discretion on mining in forest reserves.
The Minister affirmed that while there were legitimate concerns, scrapping the entire law would undermine other progressive provisions critical to environmental governance.
“When this became a major subject for discussion, it was not just the entire law. It was about the permission that the president had the discretion to permit people to mine in forest areas”
He explained that since public uproar about the L.I. stemmed largely from the clause allowing the President to authorize mining in forest operations through the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, that was the problem the solution needed to tackle.
Minister Murtala emphasized that the Mahama administration’s response has been focused and deliberate, amending only the section of the law that previously granted the President such unchecked powers.
He maintained that critics of the law often misunderstood its scope, arguing that repealing the legislation entirely would erase important protections and regulatory gains achieved through other provisions.
“We never said the entire law was bad. We never said that. Now if we said that we’re going to repeal it, but because all the discussions and debates centered on the aspect of the permission to mine in forest areas only, we decided that we are amending that particular clause instead – it is still a fulfillment of the promise we made.”
The Minister pointed to the updated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) law as a case in point, noting how it has strengthened Ghana’s environmental regulation framework.
“Look, I have had discussions with people who have also raised some concerns about the repeal because there are aspects of the law – if you take the EPA law for example – that are so good. It gives the EPA more power to bite.
“In fact, if you look at the new EPA law, that indeed now requires that the EPA permit should be a permit that serves as a condition precedent – it means for you to go in for any permit, you should have the EPA permit first,”he remarked.
The Minister praised the EPA’s new condition precedent clause, which now requires that no permit for any mining activity can be granted without prior EPA approval, arguing that provisions like these would be lost if the government had succumbed to pressure to repeal L.I. 2462 wholesale.”
While acknowledging that civil society and environmental advocates had legitimate grievances, the Minister insisted that the government’s response reflected both its willingness to listen and its commitment to effective governance.
“Now if we want to take care of that mischief, let’s just amend that aspect,” he maintained, driving home the fact that all discussions into the L.I. revealed a single bone of contention and nothing more.
“The reason why we were discussing this issue of repeal was because a permission was given to the president by it, so that by authority the president would have the discretion to permit anybody to mine in forest areas.”
In his view, a more measured amendment was not only effective but also more realistic than a complete repeal of the L.I.
“We could have taken it out completely, the L.I. 2462, and come up with another law, and I can bet my last penny if we had come up with another law, within three, four, five months, someone would have said no, there are defects with this law.”
The Minister further emphasized that even if a new law were introduced, it would not be immune to criticism sooner or later. “No law can be perfect,” he remarked.
He noted that the former government under President Nana Akufo-Addo had abused the discretionary powers enshrined in L.I. 2462 to benefit select private interests, a precedent that the current administration led by President John Dramani Mahama is working to end.