Acting Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has known as on African international locations to prioritise transparency, duty, and local participation in all extractive business environment agreements.

“Our other people should not be mere spectators in their own dispossession. We should insist on transparency, duty, and local participation in all extractive agreements,” he discussed.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie made the remarks at the opening of the 2025 Annual African Bar Association Conference in Accra, which offered together justice advocates, Bar Association members from rather a large number of international locations, Ministers of Justice, and Attorneys-General.

The conference is on the theme “Foreign Investment in Africa: Investment or Exploitation.”

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie discussed the conference’s theme underscored the will for monetary and intellectual liberation.

He recommended African international locations to take keep an eye on of their property and curb financial leakages.

“We can not increase when further wealth leaves our shores each year than enters by means of company and lend a hand blended. We should reform our institutions of negotiations,” he discussed, together with that “those who negotiate for Africa should be armed and not using a longer simplest contracts however as well as moral sense.”

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie moreover advocated sales strategy in intellectual sovereignty, jail knowledge, and monetary frameworks tailored to Africa’s financial management.

He wired the importance of intra-African company and known as for entire utilisation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to build a unified and powerful development machine.

“If we will company cocoa for apparatus, energy for returns, ideas for virtual originality, we can now not need to plead for what we will produce.

“We should moreover practice smart multinational members of the family by means of engaging with the world not as beggars then again as partners, diversifying alliances and ensuring that every handshake leaves every palms in a similar way entire,” he discussed.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie noticed that multinational interests frequently influenced governance and protection choices by means of subtle persuasion or overt energy, shaping jail and institutional reforms.

“It is plain throughout the extraction of our national property, where concessional agreements too frequently enrich the few and impoverish the a large number of, leaving our lands barren as others prosper from their bounty.

“That is not all, it echoes by means of our economies, where structural dependencies and consciences are woven so tightly that the very material of our individual sovereign will is strained.”

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie noticed that multinational impact extended to national protection arrangements, where external advisors and partners frequently shaped national agendas underneath the pretext of cooperation.

He cited wisdom from the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, indicating that Africa loses between US$50 billion and US$60 billion each year by means of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), involving finance which can also be hidden, misused, or siphoned off by means of tax evasion and company manipulation.

“Over without equal 50 years, it is estimated that over 1000000000000 bucks were illicitly drained from the continent, and that was once as soon as similar to all financial management lend a hand Africa received within the an identical period.”

The Acting Chief Justice well-known that Africa remained the richest continent in natural property, holding 30 % of the world’s minerals, 40 % of gold, 60 % of cobalt, 90 % of platinum, and producing 12 % of multinational oil, together with large arable land and abundant sunlight.

“Yet mockingly, we are however known as poor. While others govern their property, we ceaselessly merely harness ours, allowing others to decide the fee, keep an eye on their pricing, and have the benefit of their proceeds.

“It is not exploitation on my own that impoverishes us; it is misgovernance. It is not lack of wealth; it is lack of will.”

He emphasised that African international locations should govern their property with justice, equity, and foresight.

Justice Baffoe-Bonnie cited Ghana’s Constitution, which recognises natural property as the property of the folks held in consider by means of the President.

He described the established order of the Goldbod in Ghana as a promising example of deliberate protection aimed at coordinating the gold company and ensuring that proceeds go with the flow by means of national tactics to strengthen foreign currency echange echange innovation.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by means of Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or protection of Multimedia Group Limited.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by means of Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or protection of Multimedia Group Limited.