The Africa Prosperity Network (APN), an entity dedicated to promoting Africa’s economic integration and shared prosperity, has sued a UK-based company, Sankofa Advisory Group, for breach of contract.
APN is the organiser of the annual Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) in Accra, which creates a platform for more than 4,000 political leaders, business gurus, policymakers and other stakeholders to discuss the economic integration of Africa through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
In a writ filed at the Commercial Division of the Accra High Court, APN accused Sankofa, organisers of the African Oil Week (AOW), of unjustifiably terminating a contract between the parties to relocate the AOW to Ghana, causing it (plaintiff) to lose significant income, as well as reputational damage.
The plaintiff is, therefore, seeking against the defendant an order from the court for the payment of $300,000, being the cost of the value of services it rendered under the contract.
Also, the plaintiff is seeking interest on the amount from May 2025 at the prevailing exchange rate.
APD further wants the court to order the defendant to render accounts on all funds from sponsors that it introduced for the AOW, and also award it general damages for breach of contract.
Meanwhile, since Sankofa is a UK-based company and outside the jurisdiction of Ghana, the court has granted a motion by APN for leave (permission) to serve the writ of summons out of the jurisdiction, in compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47).
Statement of claim
It is the case of the plaintiff that the AOW, which, for the past 30 years, had been hosted in Cape Town, South Africa, has lost its appeal, due to competition from the Africa Energy Week, prompting Sankofa to contact APN to help rebrand and revitalise it and host it in Accra.
Sankofa, the plaintiff averred, decided to leverage APN’s “credibility, networks and expertise to secure the relocation of AOW to Ghana”.
Based on this understanding, the statement of claim explained that on July 15, 2024, APN and Sankofa entered into a 10-year partnership under which the two would collaborate on AOW, with the defendant also helping the plaintiff with the APD.
“The Plaintiff states that from the outset, the Defendant drew immense benefit from the Plaintiff’s standing and goodwill but failed to perform its reciprocal obligations under the Agreement,” the statement of claim stated.
The Plaintiff states that at APD 2025 — attended by over 4,000 high-level delegates from 46 countries — the Defendant was given visibility equivalent to that of a headline sponsor, and the Defendant used APD as the first and primary launching pad in 2025 to announce to the continent’s most influential political, business, and institutional leaders that AOW had relocated to Accra, Ghana,” the statement of claim stated.
Despite all the efforts by APN, the plaintiff averred that on May 21, 2025, Sankofa “unjustifiably terminated” the agreement, leading the plaintiff to suffer significant financial loss and reputational damage.
“The Plaintiff states that the Defendant’s conduct demonstrates that it entered into the Agreement solely to extract maximum benefit from the Plaintiff’s reputation, networks and resources, then discard the Plaintiff once the relocation was secured,” the statement of claim added.
