Case Against Agyapa Mineral Royalties Is Complete Waste Of Time …AG

The Attorney General is urging the ECOWAS Court of Justice to dismiss a case brought against the Akufo-Addo government’s scandalous Agyapa Royalties agreement.

In court on Wednesday, Chief State Attorney, Dorothy Afriyie Ansah, who represented the AG argued among others that the petitioners in the case have no locus.

Also, she claims the agreement is not tainted with corruption in any way.

“The application is without merit and a complete waste of the court’s time,” Mrs. Ansah said.

The petitioners in the case are Transparency International and its partners Ghana Integrity Initiative and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition. The group contends that the deal would result in the people of Ghana losing their rights to 75.6% of the gold royalties in perpetuity.

They tell the court that the agreement if seen through, will deprive future generations of Ghanaians of resources worth billions of dollars, in exchange for a potential $500mn equity share in a foreign SPV established in a known tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction.

The petitioners also point out that Ghana’s Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor, after examining the deal, described parts of it as a surrender of Ghana’s sovereignty over its gold resource revenue for $1 billion without a thorough consultation with critical stakeholders and a meticulous examination by the people’s representatives in Parliament in a bipartisan manner.

Therefore, they want the court to restrain the Government of Ghana from implementing the deal and cancel the already existing contracts.

But in response, the AG’s Office described the Application as a mere narration of facts, not disclosing any corruption.

“The present Application does not raise any cause of action against the Respondent. The Application is only a narration of facts that do not disclose any corruption nor alleged threatened breach of the rights of the ordinary citizens of Ghana,” the AG argued.

According to Mrs. Afriyie Ansah, the transaction is not about surrendering natural resources, including the flora and fauna of the country, but about mineral royalty receipts.

She questioned the participation of Transparency International in the matter. She said it’s an International organisation not registered within the sub-region and can, therefore, not access the court.

She also noted that the two other groups have equally failed to demonstrate that they have observer status.

She, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the Application saying it was a complete waste of the court’s time.