Ghana: ACEP’s Boss Urges Government, Tullow To Preserve Ties After Tax Ruling

The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Benjamin Boakye, has urged Ghana and Tullow Oil to preserve their commercial relationship following an arbitration ruling dismissing the company’s claims and upholding a $393.09 million tax assessment by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

Boakye said disagreements were inevitable in commercial relationships and that independent mechanisms such as arbitration existed to resolve disputes when parties could not reach agreement.

“Losing an arbitration case should not turn a commercial partner into an enemy of the state, he said.

“Ghana needs both revenue and investment,” he said.

Boakye urged authorities to distinguish commercial disputes from criminal conduct, saying a company’s decision to challenge the state through arbitration did not, in itself, make it an adversary.

He called on Ghana to strengthen its capacity to resolve commercial and civil disputes through appropriate civil processes.

“Civil remedies matter to investor confidence. They may not always produce politically satisfying outcomes, but they exist to protect rights, resolve disagreements and reduce unnecessary uncertainty in the investment environment.”

Boakye said Ghana’s ambition to become a credible seat of international arbitration depended on institutional credibility, rather than declarations alone.

Trust, he said, required predictable courts, independent adjudication, respect for contractual processes and confidence that political or state power would not be used to circumvent civil proceedings.

Tullow had challenged a $196.5 million corporate income tax assessment relating to proceeds received between 2016 and 2019 under its corporate business interruption insurance policy.

The tribunal in London ruled that the assessment did not breach the petroleum agreements between Tullow and the Ghanaian government.

Boakye said the government’s recognition of Tullow as an important partner was significant, adding that Ghana needed both revenue from the Jubilee and TEN oilfields and the continued investment and production that generated it.

He also pointed to Tullow’s response to the ruling. The company, although disappointed, had indicated that it would engage the government on the implications and next steps.

Boakye said that approach reflected how civil and commercial disputes should be handled: parties should present their cases, submit to agreed procedures and pursue any lawful remedies available.