The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (CCJ) has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Government of Ghana challenging the legality of the Agyapa deal, a Gold Royalties Monetisation Transaction arrangement.
The suit was brought forth by three anti-corruption groups: Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) in December 2020. The groups sought an order to halt the Agyapa deal, claiming that it was dominated by politically exposed persons and violated Ghanaians’ rights to sovereignty over the country’s natural resources.
However, the CCJ, sitting in Abuja, Nigeria, upheld the government’s defence and dismissed the case. The court will provide detailed reasoning for its decision at a later date.
The applicants argued that the Agyapa deal contravened international conventions against corruption and would result in Ghana’s gold resources being controlled by foreigners. They requested the court to restrain the government from proceeding with the deal and order an investigation into alleged acts of corruption associated with the deal.
The government countered the allegations, stating that the Agyapa deal was not intended to cede sovereignty over the country’s resources to foreigners. The Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, submitted that the deal aimed to ensure that Ghanaians benefited from a portion of the proceeds from the exploitation of natural resources.
Additionally, the government contended that Transparency International, as a German organization, lacked the capacity to be part of the action since it was not a member of the ECOWAS Community. They also argued that the applicants failed to provide evidence to support their claims that politically exposed persons intended to misappropriate Ghana’s resources through the deal
