MP credits ex-Attorney-General Dame for Tullow tax win and alleges government nearly settled for US$150m

Pinned summary · as of 07:13

Okaikwei Central MP Patrick Boamah has given former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame much of the credit for Ghana's success against Tullow Ghana Limited in a tax arbitration worth close to US$400 million. In the same series of Facebook and media remarks, he alleged that the current government came near to settling the claims for about US$150 million before the ruling. He made the comments after a tribunal decided the dispute in Ghana's favour.

What we know

• A tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce ruled for Ghana in the tax dispute with Tullow Ghana Limited, a case concerning nearly US$400 million. MyNewsGH gives the assessment upheld by the tribunal as US$393,091,993.70.
• Mr Boamah said a large part of the arbitration was handled while Mr Dame was in office, ahead of the 2025 handover of power, and said his role merits acknowledgement.
• According to Mr Boamah, Tullow started the arbitration in February 2023, after which Ghana responded, filed a counterclaim and objected to Tullow's first choice of arbitrator. He added that Foley Hoag LLP, a Washington-based law firm, was hired for Ghana, and that Ghana's Statement of Defence, filed in September 2024, was backed by four witnesses.
• Mr Boamah alleged that once the NDC came into government in June 2025, Ghana and Tullow explored a deal covering the arbitration as well as a different dispute about insurance, and that terms were drawn up under which Ghana would have accepted about US$150 million for two tax claims. He said the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, was prevented from signing only by a last-minute intervention from lawyers in his ministry. The allegation has not been confirmed by other reports.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  MyNewsGH reported that the tribunal also found the tax assessment consistent with the petroleum agreements, the penalty properly applied, the claim not out of time and the Ghana Revenue Authority's enforcement lawful. The Finance Minister's statement of 30 September was cited as the basis for the ruling; no second report repeats these findings.
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  According to MyNewsGH, Mr Boamah said Ghana objected to Tullow's nominee, Alistair Schaff KC, with the ICC Secretariat accepting the objection, and that Tullow filed its Statement of Claim in May 2024. Other reports do not carry these details.
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  MyNewsGH reported that Dr Forson said the government will keep talking to Tullow about outstanding tax matters, carry out the tribunal's award and safeguard the company's continued work in the Jubilee and TEN fields. No other report carries this.
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  MyJoyOnline cited Tullow's 2025 annual report as saying two Ghana tax assessments went to international arbitration in 2023 and that settlement talks had taken place, and its 2026 reporting as saying the company continues to engage the government and the GRA on a mutually acceptable outcome. These points come from a single report.

Why it matters for Ghana

A claim of nearly US$400 million is a large sum for the Ghanaian state, and the outcome affects how much the Ghana Revenue Authority can collect from oil companies. The ruling and Mr Boamah's account of a possible US$150 million settlement also raise questions about how public finances were handled and about which government's work deserves credit. Tullow runs the Jubilee and TEN fields, so the continuing talks over tax matters bear on a major source of national oil output.