Gabby Otchere-Darko is a Senior Partner at Africa Legal Associates
The Senior Partner of Africa Legal Associates, Gabby Otchere-Darko, has warned that outdated national laws could shutter the continent’s dream of a single market through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA). He, therefore, called for a supranational legal body to oversee regional legal matters.
He argued that the lack of political will to surrender the sovereignty of individual countries makes the establishment of this continental legal body difficult, referencing the African Union (AU) Charter which makes provisions for such a body but hasn’t materialised in 23 years.
“The sovereignty of law must sit at the supranational level. Even our Supreme Court, in terms of hierarchy, should be lower than an AU court,” he declared.
Speaking at the 10th Anniversary Breakfast Meeting of Africa Legal Associates (ALA), a Pan-African law firm he founded in 2015 with his wife, the renowned lawyer and politician cited Ghana’s “contradictory” GIPC Act, which bars foreigners from venturing into retail trade, directly contradicting the ECOWAS protocol on free movement.
He called the law “illegal” under the broader AfCFTA ambition, stressing that the law stifles growth and free trade among Africans.
“You can’t create a single market when member-states have conflicting policies. You can’t pick and choose which one to agree with. If we do so, we can’t have a single market,” he asserted, maintaining that national protectionism is an enemy to the single market ambition of AfCFTA.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chairman of the Africa Law Practice International (ALPi) Group, Olasupo Shasore, provided the historical context to these protectionist laws, tracing the problem back to the 17th-century Treaty of Westphalia, which imposed rigid borders on individual European countries, once known for criss-crossing trade routes.
“We’ve come full-cycle. From the time of the empire in Africa, free trade all over and then the borders came, shut us down. And now, we’ve come back to full-cycle in Africa, being at the forefront as we were all those many centuries ago. And I hope this time, we won’t go backward,” he prayed.
He, therefore, called for a reorientation of the legal profession on the continent, calling for deeper collaboration between Pan-African law firms, responsible adoption of technology and championing sustainability.
He highlighted the merger of Africa Legal Associates and his own law firm, Africa Law Practice into Africa Law Practice International ALPi Group – which now spans across 11 countries, including Côte D’Ivoire and Guyana.
Mr. Shasore acknowledged the disruptive force of Artificial Intelligence but urged caution, labelling blind reliance on AI as “natural stupidity.”
“The most complex legal problems will not be solved by an app,” he said, emphasising the irreplaceable role of emotional intelligence and philosophical thinking in law, which AI cannot do as of now.
Echoing similar sentiment, Mr. Darko warned of imminent lawsuits against professionals who rely on unverified AI-generated advice. He further emphasised that the AfCFTA presents an enormous economic opportunity for the continent, calling for its effective utilisation.
“The biggest threat facing our continent now is youth unemployment. Our economies are too small. The best we can do is to build a single market with conviction and not just pass treaties and protocols and let them sit there,” he declared.
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