John Abdulai Jinapor, the Member of Parliament for Yapei-Kusawgu, has intimated MPs from the National Democratic Congress side will resist the Agyapa deal.
He said any attempt to reintroduce the controversial deal in Parliament will be an absolute nonstarter for the opposition.
President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, March 9, hinted that government will come back to engage Parliament on the steps it intends to take on the Agyapa deal.
Reacting to this, Mr. Jinapor said stakeholders must be involved in the deal for the nation.
“[That is why] it should be considered dead on arrival from our side. We don’t have to go through the whole process again.
“The level of opacity with that agreement and the attempt to rush it through within 24 hours, despite all the issues we [NDC] have raised, gives cause for concern.
“If we want to deal with our Mineral Royalties and income, we can have a bipartisan discussion and come to a conclusion”.
John Jinapor
The leader of the Minority caucus in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, had kicked against the deal, considering it a bad deal. Mr. Iddrisu said he doesn’t subscribe to the terms of the deal.
“Agyapa [coming] back [means] corruption is back. We will not support it. I am very certain in my mind and I remain unconvinced”.
Haruna Iddrisu
IMANI Africa calls for withdrawal
The President of policy thinktank IMANI Africa, also called for the withdrawal of the deal despite decision to reintroduce it.
“For many of us in CSO space we are not entirely surprised… We are just waiting. These are early days yet. I would believe that the president would have taken the lessons and then made sure that the deal comes back in another form that meets the demand of everybody who has concerns about it”.
Agyapa Royalties deal
Parliament approved the Agyapa Minerals Royalties Investment Agreement in August last year. It had four related documents to allow for the monetisation of Ghana’s future gold royalties.
The Agyapa Mineral Royalties Limited has been incorporated in Jersey to receive and manage royalties. This will be from 16 gold mining leases over the next 15 years.
In exchange, the firm will list on the London and Ghana Stock Exchanges later this year and raise at least $500 million. With this, it will enable government to invest in infrastructure, health and education.
The company wanted to raise some monies for the Government on the Ghana and London Stock exchanges.
The move was heavily criticize following an assessment done by the Office of the Special Prosecutor. The government subsequently suspended the transaction. It then requested the then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to re-table the deal before Parliament.
