Acting Chief Justice urges transparency and local control in Africa’s resource deals

Acting Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has called on African nations to take full control of their natural resources by insisting on transparency, accountability and meaningful local participation in all extractive industry agreements.

“Our people must not be mere spectators in their own dispossession,” he said. “We must insist on transparency, accountability and local participation in all extractive agreements.”

He made the remarks at the opening of the 2025 Annual African Bar Association (AFBA) Conference in Accra, held under the theme “Foreign Investment in Africa: Investment or Exploitation.” The event gathered justice ministers, attorneys-general, judges and legal practitioners from across the continent.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said the theme reflects Africa’s broader struggle for economic and intellectual independence, long after securing political freedom.

He argued that Africa’s development is undermined when more wealth leaves the continent than flows in through trade and aid combined.
“We must reform our negotiation institutions,” he said. “Those who negotiate for Africa must be armed not only with contracts, but also with conscience.”

The Acting Chief Justice urged states to invest in legal and intellectual capacity to strengthen their negotiating power and protect national interests.

He also called for stronger intra-African trade and greater use of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to create a self-sustaining economic bloc.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said foreign influence often shapes governance, legal reforms and security policies on the continent, sometimes through “subtle persuasion or overt pressure,” resulting in unfair deals that enrich a few while impoverishing many.

Citing data from the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, he revealed that Africa loses between US$50 and US$60 billion annually through illicit financial flows, including profits hidden through tax evasion and trade manipulation. Over the past five decades, he said, about US$1 trillion has been illicitly siphoned from the continent — roughly equivalent to the total development aid Africa received in that period.

Despite holding 30% of the world’s minerals, 40% of gold, 60% of cobalt, 90% of platinum and producing 12% of global oil, he said Africa is still wrongly branded as poor.

“It is not exploitation alone that impoverishes us; it is misgovernance. It is not lack of wealth; it is lack of will,” he declared.

He praised Ghana’s Constitution for recognising natural resources as property held in trust for the people and cited the establishment of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) as a deliberate step toward securing national benefit from the gold trade.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie concluded by urging African countries to manage their resources with justice, equity and foresight, saying the continent’s sovereignty depends on how effectively it defends and deploys its wealth.