By
Edmund Mingle
The
Court of Appeal in Cape Coast on Wednesday, dismissed an appeal case filed by
five Members of Parliament (MPs), against the Atuabo Free Port project.
The
court, presided over by Justice Clement Hoenyenugah, in its ruling
said, the application was defective, and consequently struck it out.
A
cost of GH¢6,000 was awarded against the applicants for the respondents-the
Attorney-General and Atuabo Free Port.
The
MPs — Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, Obuasi West; Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko, Takoradi; Mr
Joseph Cudjoe, Effia; Mr Kofi Brako, Tema Central; and Mavis Hawa Koomson,
Ewutu Senya-filed an application at the Sekondi High Court to have clause seven
in the agreement, removed, claiming that that clause imposed an illegal
restriction on the Takoradi Port from expanding into oil and gas services.
The
Sekondi High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Peter Kwabena Ababio, had
earlier dismissed the case, with the reason that the court could not interfere
and overturn a decision taken by Parliament, as an independent body, in
accordance with the Standing Orders of the House.
It
said Parliament, in approving the agreement, did not violate any constitutional
provision as it followed the process, according to the Standing Orders.
The
court contended that since the House did not breach any constitutional
provision, it could not interfere, explaining that it could only intervene and
grant the wish of the applicants, if Parliament had failed to follow the
procedures or set aside its own standing orders.
The
appeal was seeking to overturn a ruling by the Sekondi High Court that
dismissed the five New Patriotic Party MPs’ application for a judicial review
of a law they claim restricts further expansion of oil and gas facilities at
the Takoradi Port in favour of the Atuabo Free Port (AFP).
In
July last year, Parliament approved a commercial agreement between the
government of Ghana and a British company, Lonrho Ports, for the development of
a 600million dollar oil and gas free port at Atuabo in the Western Region.
In
a statement after Wednesday’s ruling by the Court of Appeal, Atuabo Free Port
Ghana Limited said it was “pleased that this matter has now come to a close”.
“With
the ongoing soils investigation and other processes continuing, we look forward
to the realisation of Ghana’s first Free Port offering a gateway to the offshore
oil and gas industry in Ghana and the wider Gulf of Guinea,” said the statement
signed by Philomena Kuzoe, External Affairs Officer.
A
few weeks after the Sekondi High Court ruling, the MPs, in a letter to Lonrho
after that ruling, indicated that they had nothing against the project, except
that they wanted the clause seven to be removed.
The
letter signed by Kwabena Okyere Darko said, “As you well know, the matter we
put before the Sekondi High Court, which matter we have again put before the
Appeal Court, has nothing to do with the Atuabo Freeport”.
“There
is no controversy over the Atuabo Freeport, and we respectfully urge you to
proceed with the project without further delay,” the letter said, adding that
their aim was to get the Appeal Court to rule on the restriction imposed on the
expansion of oil and gas facilities at the Takoradi Port, to also give the
Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority the freedom to operate.
Clause
Seven of the agreement bars the Takoradi Port from further expanding its facilities
for oil and gas until Lonrho builds the freeport and recovers all its costs.
July 24, 2015
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