Agyapa deal: ECOWAS Court strikes out suit by three anti-graft NGOs against Ghana

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has dismissed, for lack of evidence, the suit by three anti-graft NGOs, alleging corruption in the management of Ghana's gold resources under the Gold Royalties Monetisation Transaction arrangement, widely referred to as the Agyapa deal.

The NGOs, Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative, and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition filed the suit in December 2020, seeking an intervention to halt the Agyapa deal. 

In arguments, they indicated that the deal would deprive Ghanaians of the rights and benefits of their gold resources, contrary to Article 21 (1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). 

They also contended that the transaction violated many international conventions against corruption and if allowed to proceed, would lead to Ghana’s gold resources to be controlled by foreigners.

Ghana's Attorney-General, on the other hand, described the application as a waste of time and lacking merit, saying that the suit does not indicate incidents of corruption and alleged breach of the rights of Ghanaians.  

The state also questioned the locus of Transparency International in the matter since it was an international organization and therefore not a Member of the ECOWAS Community. 

Delivering its judgment on July 10, 2023, the ECOWAS Court held that two of the applicants, Ghana Integrity Initiative and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, did not adduce evidence to support their first claim, the alleged misappropriation of the country's commonwealth.

On the second claim by the Applicants alleging that Article 256(7) of Ghana’s constitution was contrary to the same article of the ACHPR, the Court found that the government had complied with the provisions of the said article and dismissed the claim.

The Court also rejected the third allegation of the Applicants that personalities involved in politics benefitted from the terms of the deal as they  “failed to show how this has affected the commonwealth for the benefits of the people of Ghana.”

Reacting, the group described the judgment as a “disappointment”, while maintaining that the “proposed sale would serve corrupt interests and not the people of Ghana.”

Michael Boadi, the spokesperson for the Ghana Integrity Initiative, said: “Good governance principles of inclusion and participation just lost a foothold on public decisions with respect to Ghana’s natural resource management. The ruling from the ECOWAS Court of Justice is a betrayal of the quest of West Africa’s peoples to ensure that their governments are accountable to the citizens.”