Bright Simons
Business mogul Ibrahim Mahama has filed a GH¢10 million defamation suit against Vice President of IMANI Ghana, Bright Simons for a “defamatory” article he published on his personal website.
The plaintiff, who is the brother of President Mahama, avers in his suit that the article “made several false, malicious, and defamatory statements” concerning him and his company Engineers & Planners Company Ltd, the second plaintiff.
The article titled ‘Ghana Provides a Lesson in How Not to Nationalise a Gold Mine’ was published on April 19, 2025, and discuses Ghana’s management of the Damang gold mines.
It makes some allegations, including one that E&P “a powerful operator owned by the brother of Ghana’s President,” suffered financially after a temporary shutdown of the operations by Gold Fields.
The article also touched on claims such as E&P’s alleged influence on the Mineral Commission and suggested a potential conflict of interest and political interference.
The suit avers that the article was published “with malice and with the sole intent of reducing the Plaintiff’s image in the estimation of all right-thinking members of society.”
The suit, filed before a High Court in Accra, is seeking among others, a retraction of the said article and the rendering of an unqualified apology.
Bright Simons has been given eight days after service, within which to cause an appearance to be entered for him or risk a default judgement being entered against him.
Mr. Simons, in the article indicated that “The main mining contractor at Damang is E&P, a powerful operator owned by the brother of Ghana’s President, which is reportedly trying to raise billions of dollars to buy ‘marginal’ mines like Damang. Everybody in the industry is fully aware that E&P has been hit very hard by Gold Fields’ decision to temporarily halt active mining since it gets paid only when it delivers fresh ore.”
It continued that “…Furthermore, one of the deputies to the top boss at MinComm is a former employee of E&P. Another top MinComm official is a former executive of Gold Fields nurturing grudges against the company. It is not clear that MinComm can be trusted to make strategic decisions for the country without very careful scrutiny in light of these tensions and conflicts.”
It further states that “MinComm has recently raised eyebrows in the industry for pushing a policy that will force all large mines to use contractors for the actual mining simply because, it would appear, E&P prefers it that way.”
The plaintiffs, in their writ, aver that the words complained about were by way of innuendo, false and malicious publications that were naturally and ordinarily understood to mean the plaintiffs are responsible for the Government of Ghana’s decision not to renew Gold Fields’ mining lease for the Damang mine, among others.
The suit avers that the said defamatory statements have caused substantial damage to Ibrahim Mahama’s hard-earned reputation as a legitimate businessman who conducts his affairs with integrity and in accordance with sound commercial principles.
It also avers that the statements have damaged E&P’s reputation as a reputable mining contractor with strong financial standing and credibility in the mining industry.
The plaintiffs are therefore, seeking an order against the defendant to retract and apologise for the statements as well as general damages of GH¢10 million for defamation.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak