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Ghana's parliamentary minority is accusing businessman Ibrahim Mahama, the brother of President John Dramani Mahama, of exerting growing influence over the country's mining and minerals sector through a pattern of institutional appointments and asset acquisitions that, the caucus warns, amount to a "dangerous drift towards state capture."
The allegations were presented to journalists by Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, the Minority spokesperson on Lands and Natural Resources, who said the situation was "not rhetorical or alarmism" but "unfolding in real time."
"Barely one year into the administration of President John Dramani Mahama, we are witnessing what can only be described as a dangerous drift towards state capture in the mining sector," Ampratwum-Sarpong said. "Every major agency that should report to the Minister now answers to Ibrahim Mahama's orbit, not to the Minister or Parliament."
The core of the accusation centres on appointments across four key institutions: the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation, known as GIADEC, the Minerals Commission, the Ghana Gold Board and the Minerals Income and Investment Fund. The Minority alleged that the CEO of GIADEC was previously Ibrahim Mahama's personal lawyer. A GIADEC board member, Augustus Agbeli-Amegashi, has been providing consultancy services to Mahama's companies, Exton Cubic Group and Engineers and Planners, according to the caucus. The Deputy CEO of the Minerals Commission in charge of Local Content and Mineral Titles, Victoria Awuni, is alleged to have previously served as group manager for compliance at Engineers and Planners while also sitting on the governing board of GIADEC. The Minority also pointed to Sammy Gyamfi, the CEO of the Ghana Gold Board, alleging his previous role as public relations officer at Exton Cubic.
Ampratwum-Sarpong acknowledged that each appointment, taken individually, could be explained on its merits. Taken together, however, the caucus argued they describe a systematic pattern. "These appointments, taken individually, may be explained," he said. "But taken together, they point to something far more serious, a growing convergence between public institutions and a single private corporate orbit."
The Ghana Gold Board has added a structural dimension to the controversy. The caucus said the agency, formerly the Precious Minerals Marketing Company, has been removed from the direct oversight of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, a move Ampratwum-Sarpong described as weakening accountability and placing a key state agency outside ministerial control.
At the centre of the most immediate concern is the Damang gold mine in Ghana's Western Region, where a formal state handover from South Africa's Gold Fields is scheduled for April 18, 2026. The Minority said Parliament and the public have been kept in the dark about who will operate the asset after the handover, with no clarity on the selection process, financing arrangements or operational framework. Engineers and Planners, Ibrahim Mahama's mining and construction firm, is among three shortlisted bidders to take over operations, alongside BCM International and a consortium called Vortex Resources. In February 2026, Engineers and Planners secured a $205 million syndicated facility from Stanbic Bank Ghana and Standard Bank of South Africa to back its position.
The Minority is also raising questions about Nyinahin, home to major bauxite deposits managed under GIADEC, citing what it described as opaque lease arrangements. GIADEC has already responded to earlier reports on that front, stating flatly that no plans exist to grant bauxite concessions to Ibrahim Mahama.
A citizen rejoinder published this week challenged the Minority's account, describing the allegations as lacking factual grounding, questioning what it called selective criticism and noting that Engineers and Planners' formal pursuit of Damang was traceable to September 2023, before the current administration took office.
The Minority is demanding a full investigation into what it describes as an "excessive concentration of power" in the sector and is calling on the government to publicly disclose the future operator of the Damang mine before the April handover date.
