Only petroleum loans exceeding $30m should go before parliament-Supreme Court asserts

The Supreme Court of Ghana has upheld the statutory provision requiring only loans exceeding $30 million to be laid before parliament for approval.

The court thus, per a unanimous decision, dismissed a suit by a private legal practitioner, which challenged the constitutionality of that provision of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2016 (Act 919).

The case entitled Elikplim Agbemava v. The Attorney General argued that Article 181(3) of the 1992 Constitution compels all public institutions or corporations, including the GNPC, to submit all loan applications to parliament for approval.

According to the plaintiff, the above constitutional provision supersedes Section 10(15) of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2016, (Act 919) which requires only borrowings exceeding $30 million to be presented for this purpose.

He thus sought a declaration that the GNPC and other public bodies submit all loan transactions to Parliament for approval.

On its part, the Attorney General maintained that Article 181(3) only concerns loans raised by the government for itself or a public institution like GNPC.

Senior State Attorney, Grace Oppong asserted that loan agreements by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) without recourse to the government ought not go to parliament.

Additionally, the AG established that per Section 10(15) of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2016 (Act 919), the GNPC would only need that approval when the loan exceeded a certain threshold for the purpose indicated but would not always have to do so for every loan.

However, in its judgment, the seven-member panel presided over by Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, dismissed the suit in its entirety.

Other members of the panel were Pwamang, Mensa-Bonsu, Asiedu, Gaewu, Adjei-Frimpong, and Asare JJSC.