In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court has dismissed a case challenging the regulation of plant breeders in Ghana.
The Plant Variety Protection Act, 2020 (ACT 1050) was passed by Parliament in 2020 to oversee breeders in the country.
According to the law, a breeder is defined as an individual who bred, discovered, or developed a particular variety, or the person’s employer or successor in title.
The legislation mandates breeders to comply with Ghana’s regulations on the production, certification, marketing, importation, and exportation of variety materials.
To engage in such activities, breeders are required to apply for a plant breeder right. Food Sovereignty Ghana, a food advocacy group, took legal action against the Attorney General, arguing that certain provisions of the law were unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling dismissed these contentions.
The group through its lawyers argued that these portions of the law constitute “an unnecessary infringement on the farmers’ rights to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds and other propagating material.
They also pointed out that it hinders “farmers’ right to propagate material as same is hindered by authorisation”.
They pointed out that this law was passed to enforce an international convention which has not been ratified by Ghana.
The group wanted the Supreme Court to declare these portions of the law as unconstitutional.
A seven-member Supreme Court panel presided over by Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie on May 31 unanimously dismissed the case. Justice Bonnie pointed out that “the case fails in its entirety as the jurisdiction of the court has not been properly invoked”.
He said the Court’s full reasons will be available on October 2, 2023. Other panel members were Justices Gabriel Pwamang, Professor Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, Lovelace Johnson, Emmanuel Y. Kulendi and Barba Ackah-Yensu. Lead counsel for the group Wayoe Ghanamannti told JoyNews he disagrees with the decisions.
“They said their jurisdiction have not been invoked. We are yet to see the reasons but we will wait and advise our clients and seek a review. It is trite law that domestic law and international law are different and must be ratified before they are used,” he stated.