GLORYLORD INTERNATIONAL LIMITED VS GHANA WATER COMPANY LIMITED

In the Ghana High Court, Justice Francis Obiri resolved outstanding issues after the Defendant paid the principal sums the Plaintiff had sued to recover for work under the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project, including 400 additional household connections at Ga West/Olebu and within the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. The payment of GHS 345,312.20 on 1 September 2022 (reflecting the contract sums less a 5% retention) rendered the first two reliefs moot. The court then addressed whether interest was payable, when it should run, and at what rate. Rejecting the Defendant’s claim that payment depended on World Bank disbursements, the court relied on the parties’ contract and a 9 July 2019 email, applying documentary-over-oral evidence and conclusive estoppel under section 26 of NRCD 323. Because the Plaintiff completed the works and presented an interim certificate on 19 December 2019, interest automatically accrued from that date at commercial bank lending rates, calculated as simple interest, and ceased when the Defendant paid on 1 September 2022. Costs of GHS 2,000 were awarded.