Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has touted his achievement of successfully safeguarding the already strained national kitty from billions of dollars that would have otherwise been paid as judgment debts.
Mr Dame, proud of his achievements, made this assertion during a radio interview where he responded to comments by former Minister for Power and Member of Parliament for Pru East, Dr Kwabena Donkor, concerning a recent $111 million judgment debt awarded against the government of Ghana.
On February 18, 2018, the government of Ghana terminated a power purchase deal with Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), which resulted in a $134 million award by a UK tribunal on January 26, 2021, against Ghana.
An additional $111 million has been awarded against Ghana after GPGC filed a lawsuit on January 19, 2024, in the U.S. District Court, claiming recovery of the mounting interest on the principal debt under the Federal Arbitration Act’s Chapter 2 and the New York Convention.
Dr Donkor, who was the Power Minister in 2015 when the contract was signed, during a period of severe power crisis in Ghana, quickly blamed the current Attorney General during an interview on Accra-based Joy FM.
Donkor questioned and criticized the Attorney General and the Ministry of Energy for failing to pay the initial debt.
In his defense, Mr. Dame rebuffed the claim, arguing that he was not the Attorney General when the judgment debt was awarded.
Indeed, in January 2021, Mr. Dame was not a public officer nor an appointed state attorney as the country had just come out from the 2020 general election. He added that after the arbitration was concluded, the payment obligation was solely the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy.
“It is the failure of the government of Ghana to pay this judgment entered in 2021 which has led to the repeated applications in various courts by GPGC. The government indeed made some payments, but the explanation of the default does not lie with the Attorney General but with the Finance Ministry and the Energy Ministry,” he noted.
The Attorney General went on to emphasize his track record, stating, “The records will show that in my tenure as AG, there has not been a single judgment debt against Ghana, and claims were in billions of dollars.”
Background
A U.S. District Court document has revealed that Ghana’s legal team made critical errors that led to the country’s failure to challenge a $134 million judgment awarded to British energy firm Trafigura.
The judgment stems from a power purchase agreement between Trafigura’s subsidiary, the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), and the Ghanaian government. A UK tribunal ruled on January 26, 2021, that Ghana breached the contract by terminating it early in February 2018, ordering the government to pay GPGC $134 million plus arbitration costs.
Ghana made only partial payments and then missed the legal deadline to challenge the judgment in UK courts, leaving a significant debt outstanding.