Legal practitioner Samson Lardi Anyenini has advised event organisers to make provision for unforeseen situations in their contracts moving forward.
Speaking on JoyNews’ legal help program Covid And The Law, he said even though Ghana’s laws do not excuse them from their obligations in the event of unexpected situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic, re-negotiating agreements could calm their clients.
“What you ought to do is to sit down with the person who contracted you, you renegotiate….and mutually agree on how much you have already expended, how much of the money that was advanced is left? Listen to the plight of this person and also act in good conscience or good faith if you definitely can make some refund to the person, make a refund to the person, you need to keep your business and you need a good name so that in future people can continue to come to you for business,” he said May 10.
For insulation against future pandemics, he explained that a provision for force majeure in contracts would exclude them from suits and the payment of damages.
“…do you have contracts that you enter written with the parties that you provide for; do you make provision for a term force majeure? And in the provision for force majeure do you mention specific, a health situation like a pandemic or an epidemic in the nature of what has happened? If these exist, then you easily can rely on these express provisions to excuse yourself of the obligations to perform the contract and you may not be subject to a suit to pay damages in court,” he added.
For most planners, contracts are agreed without formal written agreements. The situation has caused many to lose so much revenue and in some cases their clients.
Covid & The Law sets the tone for conversations to rethink and re-strategize in the event of radical changes in the environment or contracts.
Make a date with Lawyer Samson Anyenini every Sunday at 2 pm on JoyNews on the digital terrestrial platform, and myjoyonline.com.
