The Minority have acccused President Mahama and his brother of engaging in state capture
The Minority Caucus in Parliament has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of orchestrating “state capture of the worst kind” to favor President John Mahama’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama, in mining deals.
In a statement dated July 29, 2025, signed by Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, MP for Mampong and Ranking Member of the Lands and Natural Resources Committee, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus alleged that strategic appointments and decisions are designed to benefit Ibrahim Mahama’s Engineers and Planners (E&P) Limited.
“Ever since President Mahama began his second stint as the President of Ghana in January 2025, the system has been set up to facilitate his brother Ibrahim’s mining activities, with former E&P employees placed in strategic positions in the mining regulatory sector. E&P’s former spokesperson, Sammy Gyamfi, is now the CEO of GOLDBOD, the gold purchasing regulator. The top executives of the Minerals Commission are also former employees of E&P and still regard Ibrahim Mahama as their boss.
“Other former employees of E&P are strategically positioned in various high offices in Ghana’s extractive sector. This is state capture of the worst kind, engineered and planned by the ‘engineers and planners’ of the NDC Government. They are once again scheming to hand over the country’s resources to the President’s brother, as the President did in 2016. But this time, it’s more subtle and refined,” the Minority said.
The caucus cited the Black Volta Gold Project, where E&P is in a legal dispute with Azumah Resources Limited in Ghana and UK courts, as part of a pattern of political patronage.
“As the matter is still before the courts, our focus is not to rehash the legalities or illegalities of the Black Volta Gold Project agreement but to draw the public’s attention to the broader picture. To this end, we wish to point out that the Black Volta Gold Project is merely the latest in a pattern of political patronage backing Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, the President’s brother, in his business affairs.
“While E&P denies political patronage by the NDC government, the Ghanaian public is not deceived, and the evidence is irrefutable,” the caucus said.
The Minority further recalled the 2016 Exton Cubic case, where Ibrahim Mahama’s firm secured bauxite leases covering 60% of Ghana’s reserves, later voided by the Supreme Court in 2019 for violating the Constitution.
They also questioned the government’s handling of the Damang Mines, briefly taken over in April 2025 before a one-year lease extension was granted to Gold Fields Ghana Limited, suggesting it was linked to E&P’s contract disputes.
The caucus criticized President Mahama’s July 8, 2025, statement that “the time has come for Ghanaians to own gold mines” as favoring his brother and NDC allies, while mines linked to NPP’s Bernard Antwi-Boasiako were closed.
“While this may sound like an invitation to all Ghanaians, it really is limited only to the President’s brother and other financiers of the NDC party. It clearly does not include gold mining entrepreneurs like Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, whose mines have been shut down on the orders of the Presidency. This purely political persecution of a miner who employs hundreds of Ghanaians renders the President’s words hollow and hypocritical,” the Minority said.
While reiterating their claim of state capture by President Mahama and his brother, the Minority served notice of their intent to reveal more such schemes as part of their mandate to hold the government accountable.
GA
