Policy Analyst, Dr. Steve Manteaw, wants the Akufo-Addo government to publish details of the dubious Agyapa deal which it attempting to pass clandestinely, despite its earlier scrapping.
Speaking to Accra-based Joy FM, he said this will enable stakeholders to find out if the concerns raised over the original one have been dealt with.
“We had expected that the Finance Minister, given that he made public that the transaction document has been revised, it would have been good, if they were acting in good faith, to disclose the revised document for us to be able to interrogate it and assure ourselves that the concerns we had about the transaction had been adequately taken care of. Some of us have been trying to have access to the supposed revised document, without success,” he revealed
He added, “So I would take the opportunity of this medium to request the Finance Minister to publicly disclose the revised Agyapa transaction document so that we can all discuss it from a very informed position and see how together, we can improve it for the benefit of this country,” he said.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in a press briefing on Thursday, reiterated the government’s intention to re-submit the Agyapa Minerals Royalties Agreement before Parliament.
The deal aims to collateralize Ghana’s mineral royalty receipts for 15 years in exchange for US$500million but the whole arrangement has been souped in corruption.
Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, had flagged the deal as corruption dealing after a corruption risk assessment, shattering the government’s hurry in 2020 to list the Agyapa Mineral royalties special purpose vehicle on the London Stock Exchange.
Amidu, after the assessment, resigned and insinuated former President Rawlings may have been murdered over the corruption risk assessment because he had shared details of his work with Mr. Rawlings just around the time that he suddenly died.
Amidu would go on to describe Akufo-Addo as the “mother serpent of corruption”, and would resign and then flee the country.
However, rather than abandon the deal, the Akufo-Addo government is still hell-bent on seeing it through.
In the original deal, the arrangement was for the Board of Directors on Agyapa to be composed of shadowy individuals whose identities would be hidden from Ghana.
Also, even though the mineral royalty receipts are from Ghana, Parliament would not have control over the Board.
For many, the arrangement was crafted to prepare a way for members of the Akufo-Addo government to secretly buy shares in Agyapa and thus control the country’s mineral royalty receipts for the next 15 years even in opposition.
According to Dr. Manteaw, “Agyapa is a bad thing because of the way it is structured…We would wish they abandon it. Especially, if they had not adequately taken care of the concerns we have raised, but if they decide to go ahead then, of course, we have no option to also continue with our campaign and we will see how it all ends.”
Already, Lawyer Kofi Bentil has vowed to lead the resistance against the dirty deal calling it a “robbery” by “nation wreckers.”