The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the failed Agyapa Royalties deal initiated by the incumbent government as deceptive. The NDC claimed that the cancellation of the deal came as no surprise to it as it has always known the deal was doomed from the onset.
During the recent sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament featuring the Mineral Income Investment Fund (MIIF), the CEO of the fund, Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, disclosed that the government spent a whopping sum of USD 12 million on the Agyapa Royalties deal which was called off due to the government’s inability to secure the deal.
“When the matter was probed further, the CEO of the MIIF stated that this colossal amount was spent on the setting up of the stinky “Agyapa” Royalties vehicle, the payment of consultancy fees, the rental of office space, and the processes leading to the Initial Public Offering towards the listing of “Agyapa” Royalties on the London Stock Exchange”.
Esq. Smmy Adu Gyamfi
The National Communications Officer of the NDC, Esq. Sammy Adu Gyamfi, speculated that the Agyapa deal was a made-up deal by the incumbent government with the sole intent of appropriating the country’s mineral royalties for personal benefit.
He further indicated that the NDC had opposed the deal when it was brought to parliament. The NDC, he stated, knew the deal had nothing to offer Ghanaians as it denied future governments and generations mineral revenues that are critical to the economic development of the country.
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi specified that the NDC caucus boycotted parliament to show their disapproval of the deal however the NPP Members of Parliament approved the deal in their absence despite public disapproval of the deal, an action he said was not unexpected to the NDC.
“Several Civil Society Organizations, including IMANI, ISODEC, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), IDEG, ASEPA, and ACEP, among others, kicked against this rip-off called Agyapa, based on sound arguments and alternative proposals. As you are all aware, all the constructive suggestions of these groups were ignored by the corrupt AkufoAddo/Bawumia NPP government who were hell-bent on stealing our mineral royalties”.
Esq. Sammy Adu Gyamfi
The National Communications Officer of the NDC also disclosed that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in its Corruption Risk Assessment Report discovered that the Agyapa deal was fraught with procurement rigging, statutory breaches, and potential money laundering that is unreceptive to the interest of the nation.
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi accused the incumbent government of abuse of the public purse and thievery. He asserted that it is extremely cruel of the government to steal from the people at a time when the world was combating the COVID-19 pandemic and Ghanaians were reeling under unbearable hardships.
The NDC Communications Officer detailed that the OSP also found that the government had made illegal payments to entities regarding the Agyapa deal.
Some of these entities include Databank which belongs to the immediate past Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori Atta, and Africa Legal Associates, a law firm that belongs to another NPP avid supporter, Mr. Gabby Otchere Darko.
He emphasized that though the OSP has made this known to the government, no attempts were made by the government to retrieve the monies paid to these entities.
NPP Administration: A Negligent Spender
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi further argued that the money wasted on the Agyapa Royalties deal could have been used for social intervention courses like funding the defunct Korle-Bu renal dialysis unit or vaccination against the six killer diseases among many others.
“Sadly but very characteristic of the selfish and greedy Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, they have distributed all this money among themselves, under the guise of expenditure on the botched “Agyapa” deal”.
Esq. Sammy Adu Gyamfi
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi stated that the irresponsible spending habits of the incumbent government have led the country into economic bankruptcy. He opined that the country is burdened with problems of debt default, high unemployment rate, high interest rates, high inflation rate, and unprecedented hardship due to mismanagement on the part of the government.
The NDC Communicator specified that the Agyapa deal is not the only fraudulent deal the government has engaged in during its seven years of administration. He mentioned other deals in the likes of the AI Skytrain, the Power Distribution Service (PDS), and the Ameri Novation deals among a host of others.
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi indicated that the Agyapa deal on the whole amounts to willfully causing financial loss to the country and the culprits, thus leaders of government and everyone involved in the deal must be penalized appropriately.
Moreover, the NDC communicator declared that the party’s flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama has proved himself as the right person to fight corruption in all forms. He maintained that John Dramani Mahama has established both in government and out of government, that he abhors corruption, and will never condone corruption.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gyamfi stated that the NDC’s major opponent in the approaching election cannot be trusted to deal fairly with corruption as he, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is corrupt like every other member of the incumbent government. He also accused the Vice President of deliberately causing the state financial loss by relaxing the terms of the PDS deal.
Accordingly, the NDC communicator advised Ghanaians to vote the current government out of power in the general elections in December. He declared his party’s flagbearer as the safer choice for Ghanaians to make at the polls in December. He assured the public of John Dramani Mahama’s readiness to investigate the Agyapa deal if he is elected in the December polls this year.
More so, he mentioned that the NDC is confident that Ghanaians will rise to the occasion and reject corruption, nepotism, impunity, the haughtiness of power, and gross economic mismanagement at the December 2024 polls.
To conclude, the NDC has on different occasions launched an attack on the NPP, especially regarding the NPP’s supposed poor economic administration of the country. As the December election approaches, the constant attacks and counterattacks from both parties continue to infiltrate the public domain as both parties try to win the Ghanaian populace over to their sides.
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