JUDGMENT
ATUGUBA, JSC
Facts
In this case the five plaintiffs represent Ghanaian landowners, who share the common trait that mining companies have been extracting gold for the Republic of Ghana on their land. These companies include Anglo Gold Ashanti, Newmont Ghana Limited, and Goldfields Limited (“The Companies”).
At the moment the royalties from these mining operations are not paid to the landowners, but rather collected by government agencies. The Ghana Revenue Authority (the “GRA”), one of the Defendants in this case, serves the role of royalty collector for the minerals at issue here. However, the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands, the institution charged by the Constitution and by the Administrator of Stool Lands Act, 1994 (“Act 481”), is charged with establishing stool land Accounts, collection of royalties, and disbursing revenues due and payable.
In 1992 a fund was established to provide a portion of Government mineral royalties to host communities to support local develo…