By Korku Devitor& Ali Napo Fuseini(Jomoro)

A Sekondi High Court will on Friday January 2, 2011 begin hearings on a motion of committal for contempt brought against Multiworld Paper and Sacks (MPS) Ltd, and their partners, Ghana Cement Company Ltd (GHACEM) for excavation works in a limestone concession at Nawule in the Jomoro District of the Western Region, contrary to a high court order.

The plaintiffs, J.E. Jainie, Head of the Ndweafo clan of Nawule, Awowim and parts of Cote d’ivoire, and two others had secured a temporary injunction from the high court in May 2010 against the commencement of work by GHACEM in the concession challenging the legality and validity of a contract entered into between MPS and a late chief of Nawule awarding a lease to MPS to extract limestone from a 6.115 square miles of Nawule land.

The said injunction having been served just before the proposed commissioning of the mining project caused President Atta Mills to pull out of the commissioning intended for May 28, 2010 at the 11th hour, causing great embarrassment to the chiefs of the area who had been transported to the project site amidst pomp and pageantry waiting for the president’s arrival.

Some chiefs from Western Nzema had also gone to plead with the judge for the matter to be withdrawn and settled out of court.

The Plaintifs were said to have agreed for the matter to be withdrawn on humanitarian grounds since the respondents led by Chief Executive Officer of MPS, J. A. Addison had pleaded with the court to be allowed access to the site in order to service machinery and plants which needed maintenance.

This request the court granted, but with a firm instruction that “No excavation” be done on the land until all legal issues were sorted out. According to Plaintiffs the matter was withdrawn from court, and the application for injunction lifted temporarily due to Dr. Addison’s plea “but with liberty to come back if things did not go the way the court had instructed.”

MPS had acquired the land from a late chief of Nawule, but at the time of the deal, the chief was the sole signatory to the deal without the approval of any of his elders and the Family head.

Having had wind of GHACEM’s intention to mine the limestone in partnership with MPS, (leaseholder): head of the clan, J.E. Jeinie wrote to MPS abrogating the contract, citing the illegality of the deal.

MPS however went ahead to apply, for and in 2010 received a mining license from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and the Minerals Commission to mine the limestone.

Signed by outgoing minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Collins Dauda, the license granted MPS the green light to mine limestone in the concession for five years.

At a meeting between locals and GHACEM, the people warned the cement giants to stop the mining until all necessary matters were dealt with according to the court order.

However George Dawson-Ahmoah Strategic and Corporate Affairs Director for GHACEM sought to rubbish the effect of the court injunction and contempt suit. This brought tempers to a high voltage at the time the meeting came to a close.

“GHACEM is not party to the legal suit, and injunction on commissioning does not mean injunction on commencement of operations,” Dawson-Ahmoah fumed, indicating there was no way GHACEM would back down on its mining activities. Locals responded that his claim of GHACEM not being part of the legal tussle, only confirmed the argument that GHACEM had no legal basis to mine in the area since it had no license to mine in the area.

Stay tuned for more on this very developing story.