Injunction on GMOs: FSG back in court today

The case in which Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) is suing for an interim injunction on the commercial release of Bt cowpea and GM rice resumes at the Human Rights Division of the Accra Fast Track Court today.

The presiding judge Anthony Kwadwo Yeboah in the last sitting reminded the defendant that until the application by the plaintiff is heard, they cannot do anything in relation to the authorisation of Bt. cowpea or GM rice until the process is over, which amounted to a temporary ban on the commercial release of GM crops until the case had been disposed of.

The plaintiffs, FSG had originally sued the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) but counsel for the defendants requested the National Biosafety Authority and the Attorney-General’s Department to be joined in the suit as co-defendants.

The FSG is claiming that the Biosafety Act, 2011, Act 831, and the Legislative Instrument 1887, which established the NBC, have not been respected as regards the authorisation of confined field trials and the conditions for a commercial release of GM crops, as it relates to the threats by SARI “to embark on the multiplication of seeds of the Bt cowpea in commercial quantities”.

“We are making this petition because, unfortunately, and quite alarmingly, we see serious breaches to be going on. Our main argument is that the Biosafety law in Ghana, as well as international biosafety protocols and treaties are being breached by the defendants,” according to FSG lawyer George Tetteh Wayo.

The court is likely to hear the argument from the defendants that the applicant’s motion for interlocutory injunction and the court will be looking at both affidavits and determine the relevant issues raised, whether or not to grant or dismiss the application.