Bright Simons: What Ghana’s latest ‘judgment debt’ says about accountability
Published:
4 months ago
Source:
MyJoyOnline
The latest case in the long aftermath of Ghana's arbitration with Trafigura
On 26th January 2021, an arbitration panel sitting in London, ruled against Ghana in a dispute between the country and a subsidiary of Swiss energy trading giant, Trafigura, about an aborted 107 MW power plant.
Since the arbitration outcome itself was not appealable, the only way around it was to ask a court to set it aside on the basis that the arbitral panel acted beyond the scope of their authority as conferred by the arbitration clause in the subsisting contract/agreement. The government failed to do this within the prescribed time. However, after the deadline had passed, it approached the High Court in London for special leave to bring a case to annul the arbitral decision on two grounds. Despite having been granted a short extension, it failed to instruct its lawyers on time and to comply with court orders leading to the dismissal of its case. Following the High Court's ruling, the arbitration award became cast in iron.