Ken Ofori-Atta says govt has not abandoned the deal
Kwakye Ofosu offer solutions on how govt can raise money
Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a former Deputy Minister of Information, has said that the Agyapa deal amounts to an economic atrocity against the people of Ghana.
According to him, if the government of Ghana needs $500 million to spend upfront, they can easily ask the mining firms holding the affected leases to advance them that money.
Kwakye Ofosu tweeted, “the Agyapa deal amounts to an economic atrocity against the people of Ghana.
"If the government of Ghana desperately needs $ 500 million to spend upfront, they can ask the mining firms holding the affected leases to advance them that money against at most, two years’ royalties.”
Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister, has stated recently that the government of Ghanan has not abandoned the controversial Agyapa deal, which will be laid before the MPs soon.
Speaking at a press conference, Thursday May 12, the Minister said, “my firm philosophical belief really is that the capital markets are meant for something that will lead us to equity resources and we are not leveraging on it. Therefore, it is not the question of whether monetization of mineral royalties or listing of the company is bad or good."
“It is good because that is how you raise the resources. The question is the process of doing that. If you have a problem with the process just articulate it, lets cure it but let us not drop something that will be good for us that will reduce our debt exposure.
"So those are two very different questions. How best to do it as opposed to, don’t do it. My mind is still there, I know the president has mentioned something about that going through the AG, Parliament to do that.
“But it is not something that is an asset to the country that one need to drop. You need to examine all your equity and debt positions and the best choice for the country. We will never have done Free SHS if we listened to other people that is 400,000 lives that have a chance to do something , we would have stopped shot at e-levy because of the noise, suddenly we have a tax handle that will be phenomenally important for the country. so we need to look at that,” Ken Ofori-Atta stressed.
About 24 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are of the view that the Agyapa deal was inherently illegal.
According to them, the President holds the minerals in trust, they are not the President’s property or his government’s.
“Refusing to do so means we will go to court,” they said in reaction to the Finance Minister’s comment.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we reiterate that the coalition is not against alternative actions to optimise the mineral sector. However, we do not support the current attempt to sell the risk-free right of the country to royalties and the attendant questions around the transaction.
“The Africa Mining Vision is an important diagnostic instrument to identify ways to maximise mineral resources, and Ghana must show commitment to the regional document rather than short term gains to a set of politically connected people,” the CSOs said in a joint statement.
Felix Kwakye Ofosu