Dr. Lord Mensah, an economist and a lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School has revealed that the ensuing debate and vitriol over the Agyapa deal will potentially throw off investors.
According to him, the chaos surrounding the deal may lead to low patronage by investors if listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
“If you don’t see transparency in the deal and citizens are not getting value for money, it will send bad signals to investors out there. As it stands now and with the chaos around it, trust me the fund might not receive the investors they are looking for.
“We should make things open and understand that for shares to thrive, there has to be transparency before any investor invests in it. With the issues surrounding this deal, we can list it and it will backfire. Unless those who are pushing the deal have investors they are looking at”.
Earlier, Haruna Iddrisu had disclosed the minority’s intention to pen down their concerns to the London Stock Exchange over challenges they have observed with the Agyapa royalties deal put together by the government of Ghana.
“We will, after today’s press conference, put the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Conduct Authority on notice that this agreement does not meet the required due diligence and transparency, and a substantial level of conflict of interest runs through the structuring of the agreement. The Agreement, is, therefore, tainted with some corrupt acts”.
According to him, “The NDC is of the strong view that the decision to mortgage Ghana’s future mineral royalties in perpetuity is grossly inimical to the interest of the people of Ghana and runs contrary to the constitutional imperative that governmental power is exercised for the welfare of the people of Ghana.
“This deal fails to enhance public welfare. Our analysis shows clearly that Ghana stands to lose billions of United States Dollars in revenue as a consequence of this illegal transaction”.
The Agyapa Royalties deal
In 2018, Parliament passed the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act 2018 which establishes the Fund to manage the equity interests of Ghana in mining companies and receive royalties on behalf of government.
The purpose of the fund is to manage and invest these royalties and revenue from equities for higher returns for the benefit of the country.
The government then, through the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), set up Agyapa Royalties Limited to monetize Ghana’s gold royalties.
This was after Parliament on August 14, approved the Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited agreement with the government of Ghana despite the walkout by the Minority.
In exchange, the company plans to raise between $500 million and $750 million for the Government on the Ghana and London Stock exchanges to invest in developmental projects.
