Ghana Fined US$750 For Delay Tactics In Agyapa Lawsuit In ECOWAS Court

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has fined Ghana $750 for wasting time in a case brought against it in the dubious Agyapa Mineral Royalties deal.

The Akufo-Addo government was held liable for time-wasting in the case jointly filed by anti-corruption civil society organizations – Transparency International (TI), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC).

The lawyer for the three anti-corruption organizations, Olumide Babalola, had asked the court to fine the government for deliberate time-wasting.

This was after the Chief State Attorney, Dorothy Afriyie Ansah had on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, pleaded for one more week to enable the government to prepare a response to issues raised by the plaintiffs.

Madam Dorothy Afriyie Ansah pleaded for a reduced cost praying the court to award a cost of US$400 instead.

She claimed that the delay was not the doing of the Attorney General’s office, but rather by her unavailability due to illness.

However, Counsel for plaintiffs pointed out that the delays were unduly wasting the resources of his clients who must travel from various places to Accra to attend court only to be told of postponements.

The court presided over by Hon. Edward Amoako Asante, refused to buy the story of the malingering State attorney, wondering if there were no other staff in the Attorney General’s Department.

He explained that the Tribunal was in Ghana solely to hear the cases and couldn’t stand the idea of such delays.

It then awarded the compromise US$750 cost for delays against the Akufo-Addo government.

The court also directed the Ghana government to submit all required paperwork by Monday, March 28, 2022, so that the matter could be reviewed on Wednesday, March 30, 2022

The three anti-corruption organizations filed the lawsuit in July 2021, challenging the government’s decision to collateralize the country’s mineral royalty receipts through the special purpose vehicle called Agyapa.

They want the court to direct the government to stop the deal so that the agreement can be put through proper procedure.

The Akufo-Addo government faced stiff opposition when it rolled out the Agyapa mineral royalties agreement. The opposition was due to opacity around the deal.

Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Alamisi Amidu would later conduct a corruption perception audit on the deal and conclude that the deal was stewed in corruption, including conflict of interest by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Martin Amidu, would, over the deal, describe president Akufo-Addo as the “mother serpent of corruption.”

Due to the opposition, the deal was pulled but the president later indicated intent to reintroduce it in parliament for consideration.