NPP should stop creating impression that ECOWAS court has certified the Agyapa Deal – Sammy Gyamfi

The Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should not create the public impression that the Agyapa Deal has been approved by the ECOWAS Court of Justice.

According to him, the ruling was based on whether the government contravened the African Charter on Human Rights but not the substantive concerns the NDC has raised.

He stated that the concerns of the NDC regarding the Agyapa seal have to do with procurement breaches and the funds paid to Gabby Otchere-Darko’s Databank as part of the deal for the advisory role it plays.

Speaking in an interview on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, on August 17, 2023, Sammy Gyamfi rebuked the New Patriotic Party for claiming the government has been “vindicated” and described the deal as illegal.

“The deal [Agyapa] is illegal, those payments should be refunded to the state because Gabby's African Legal Associates and Databank had been paid transaction advisor fees under the illegal contracts. The deal was illegal because, according to the office of the special prosecutor, which investigated this matter, the deal violated Article 1(8), 1(5) of the 1982 Constitution and the Public Procurement Law.

“These issues were not interrogated by the Community Court of ECOWAS because they were not before them.
And even if the issues were presented to them, they could not have gone into them because they lacked jurisdiction. The issue has never been a human rights matter. And so please stop this mischievous attempt of claiming glory, creating the impression that the Community Court has certified and endorsed the Agyapa deal when that is not the case,” he said.

The National Communications Officer of the NDC reiterated that the ECOWAS Court of Justice ruled solely on whether the government violates the African Charter of human rights, not the issues raised by his party.

"They [ECOWAS Court of Justice] were only called upon to determine whether the deal and the conduct of government related to the deal violated a certain provision of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. That is what they determined and said, no, it doesn't violate this provision. They did not go into issues of procurement breaches, breaches of article 1 (8), 1(5), and so on and so forth,” he clarified.

Background

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice has ruled that there is nothing illegal with the Agyapa Royalties deal the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government is seeking to implement.

This comes after the ECOWAS court dismissed an application to stop the Akufo-Addo government from going ahead with the deal, on the grounds that it was not on the interest of Ghanaians.

The case was sent to the court by three anti-corruption agencies in Ghana - Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and Anti-Corruption Coalition.

According to the court, presided over by Justice Sengu Mohamed Koroma, Justice Dupe Atoki, and Justice Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves, ruled that the three anti-corruption bodies failed to provide evidence that the deal would deprive the people of Ghana of their common wealth.

The judges also reportedly stated that the Parliament of Ghana approved the processes of setting up the Agyapa Royalties deal by the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and the floating of its shares in a transparent and legitimate manner.

The court also agreed with the argument of the Akufo-Addo government that Ghana owns 100% of the Agyapa deal and that the 49% it intends to be floated on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) could not be misconstrued as depriving Ghanaians of their commonwealth.

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