A former member of the legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Lawyer Wayoe Ghanamannti, has notified the Speaker of Parliament to probe and initiate processes for the removal from office of President John Dramani Mahama, for his negligence in the fight against illegal mining popularly referred to as galamsey.
Lawyer Ghanamannti, who resigned from the NDC and later became the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) for the 2024 general election, argued that his call for the impeachment of President Mahama is based on the refusal of the President to declare a state of emergency in galamsey areas to protect the lives of Ghanaians.
According to him, the President by his inaction, has willfully violated various provisions of the 1992 Constitution that should warrant his removal from office.
“It is my presentation that our Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces of Ghana, the President in carrying out his executive functions under Articles 57 (1) and 58 (1) & (2) of the 1992 Constitution, and blatantly refusing to declare a state of emergency to halt galamsey immediately, when this is the most potent presidential measure at this point, to protect us, his people and preserve Ghana from the devastating effect of galamsey that is leading to wanton environmental destruction, health calamity, insecurity and posting an existential threat to our nation, is breaching certain provisions of the constitution leading to his wilful violations of Article 69 (1) (a) and 69 (1) (b) (i) & (ii) of the 1992 Constitution.
“In the circumstances, I bring this notice for a constitutional investigation for the President’s removal from office as President of the Republic under Article 69 of the 1992 Constitution,” Lawyer Ghanamannti requested in the notice dated 2nd October, 2025, cited by THE CUSTODIAN.
He said he has been empowered under Article 41 (a), (b), (e), (g), (h) and (k) of the Constitution on the duties of a citizen of the Republic, to bring this notice for the investigation for removal of the President.
Processes for removal of President
The Constitution of Ghana under Article 69 gives instances under which the President can be removed.
This could be through the actions and inactions of the President, which may be considered as “willful violation of the oath of allegiance and the presidential oath”.
Under Article 69, a citizen of Ghana could initiate the removal from office of the President, by sending a written notice to the Speaker of Parliament which shall be: (a) signed by not less than one-third of all the members of Parliament, and (b) stating that the conduct or the physical or mental capacity of the President be investigated on any of the grounds specified in clause (1) of this article.
Article 69 (2) requires that the Speaker forward the ‘notice for investigation for removal of the President to the Chief Justice, copied to the President.
Article 69 (4) then requires the Chief Justice and a Tribunal to determine whether or not there is a prima facie case for the removal of the President.
Then, per Article 69 (10), the process comes back to Parliament for a resolution on whether or not to remove the President from office.
According to lawyer Ghanamannti, this is “very straightforward,” and it is up to the judiciary to determine a prima facie case or not, for Parliament to make a resolution to conclude it.
NDC’s call for state of emergency
Lawyer Ghanamannti sent the formal notice to Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, attaching links to statements from various entities and NDC bigwigs on various news portals, calling for a state of emergency to stop galamsey in the country.
“Many NDC persons who are today Ministers of State, Chief Executive Officers of Public Institutions and party communicators, as well as party foot soldiers, etc., all made critical pronouncements to mark the failure of the NPP in the galamsey fight, trumpeting the readiness of the NDC to halt galamsey immediately, when voted into power.
“With the advent of technology and social media, almost all these public pronouncements are available to support this assertion, and some of these are herein below,” he recalled.
According to lawyer Ghanamannti, he is calling for the constitutional removal of President Mahama from office, because prominent members of the NDC used galamsey to their advantage to win political power but have since failed to tackle the menace based on their own promises to declare a state of emergency upon assumption of office.
“It is a political fact that the failure of the NPP government to halt galamsey, inured massively to the political fortunes of the NDC in the 2024 General Election, giving President Mahama a landslide victory.
“More importantly, it is worthy to note that the NDC, led by President Mahama, seeing this massive failure on the part of the NPP government in the galamsey fight, capitalised on it and made very defining political submissions and promises to halt galamsey when voted into power,” Mr. Ghanamannti added.
By Selasi Aklotsoe Mensah
