Former President and the flag bearer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has asked government to desist from signing the Agyapa royalties deal adding that his government will do everything legitimately in their power to oppose the agreement and make sure it doesn’t happen.
Addressing the chiefs and people of Kaleo as part of his tour of the Upper West Region, the former President said,
“The attempt by government spokespersons to justify the Agyapa deal in the name of a 2011 proposed Ghana Gold Company is both inaccurate and disingenuous.”
He added that, the proposed company was 100 percent owned by the government and people of Ghana and it had no secret beneficial owners.
Mr. Mahama also pointed out that the Agyapa deal, which is “shrouded in secrecy seeks to monetize Ghana’s gold royalties for the next 15 years and even in perpetuity without the consent of the people of Ghana”.
He then said numerous misgivings have been expressed about the deal.
“Civil society and right-thinking Ghanaians have all expressed misgivings about this Agyapa deal”.
Mr. Mahama further went on to say that, a small group of people cannot arrogate to themselves the right to monetize the country’s gold royalties without building consensus with the chiefs and people, adding the Agyapa agreement does not serve Ghana’s national interest.
In a related story also, The alliance of civil society organisations (CSOs) working on extractives, anti-corruption and good governance says they were not satisfied with all responses they got after an engagement with the Minister of Finance and other officials working on the Agyapa Royalties Limited listing
The spokesperson for the CSO’s, Dr Steve Manteaw in an interaction with the media after the engagement with the Finance Minister Mr Ken Ofori-Atta said that although they were assured that the national interest would be protected, they were not satisfied with responses.
|He stated that,
“The CSO’s were not against the desire and efforts to optimize the mining revenues of the country, but that, in the larger interest of the country, they were worried about inadequate consultations in the process.”
He said, the alliance would continue to push for the national interest to ensure that the deal returned good revenues to the state, as the ministry engaged the citizens to fulfill a balancing act of moving with dispatch to take advantage of the high gold prices and conducting adequate consultations.
In recent times, there has been a lot of concerns raised with regards to government leveraging gold royalties to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Agyapa Royalties.
Last month, parliament approved five agreements to securitize gold royalties of the country through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Agyapa Royalties Limited.
This agreement was in relation to a gold royalties monetization transaction where the government seeks to raise revenue for development on the back of royalties from the mining sector to the tune of US$1 billion.
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