ECOWAS Court dismisses case against Agyapa deal

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has thrown out a suit against Government of Ghana challenging the propriety of a Gold Royalties Monetisation Transaction arrangement popularly referred to as the Agyapa Deal.

Three anti-corruption groups including Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition dragged the government to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in December 2020, seeking an order to halt the Agyapa deal.

It was the case of the applicants that the Agyapa deal was dominated by politically exposed persons and also violated the rights of Ghanaians to have permanent sovereignty over the country’s natural resources as provided under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

However, the court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria, upheld the defence of the government of Ghana, and dismissed the case of the three civil society organizations. The court said the detailed reasoning for its decision would be made available later.

The applicants had argued that the Agyapa deal violated many international conventions against corruption, and, if allowed to go ahead, would allow Ghana’s gold resources to be controlled by foreigners.

Apart from asking the court to restrain the government from going ahead with the deal, the applicants also wanted the court to order Ghana to investigate all alleged acts of corruption associated with the deal, and ensure that any alleged perpetrators are brought to justice. The government, in its defence, however, refuted the case of the applicants and argued that the Agyapa deal was not meant to cede the sovereignty of the country’s resources to foreigners. It was also the case of the government that the first applicant, Transparency International, had no capacity to be part of the action because it was a German organisation and, therefore, not a member of the ECOWAS Community.

In November 2020, President Akufo-Addo instructed the Minister of Finance to re-submit the agreements supporting the Agyapa deal to Parliament for the approval process to start all over again. That followed the corruption risk assessment submitted by a former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, to the President.