Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil has reiterated his stance against the revision and resubmission of the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal.
This time, Kofi Bentil believes the transaction in its current form can be compared to an act of robbery adding that it is the perfect plan for anyone to rob Ghanaians of their national heritage.
Speaking in an interview with Accra-based TV3, Kofi Bentil maintained the current Agyapa Royalties deal will not in any way benefit the citizens as the nation was not going to get value for money.
“We are not getting value for money for all that collateralization and in the particular case of Agyapa, our mineral resources are undersold and they are being put in a place where we don’t have control.
“And it is in perpetuity, for as long as the mines have a useful life and many mines are going to come on stream. If somebody wanted to steal our national heritage, this would be a perfect plan to use.
“So, I don’t see why anybody can do that especially when they cannot explain how we are going to benefit from this,” he stressed.
Despite his stance against the deal, Kofi Bentil has also questioned government’s insistence to push ahead with the transaction particularly with plans to list 49 percent of royalties on the London and Ghana Stock Exchanges.
He bemoaned the plan and said moves to collateralize mineral resources in perpetuity of a place where the revenue generated will be out of the country's control is not prudent.
The IMANI Africa Vice President said whoever gets ownership of the Agyapa deal, will become the sole beneficiary of the transaction which will in turn make Ghana poorer.
“Agyapa is robbery, whoever is going to get the ownership of Agyapa is robbing this country of what God gave us with which we can survive even in the times of bad governance, that money will be assured,” Bentil stressed.
He however dismissed the idea of the Agyapa deal being a major revenue stream for the government to use for developmental purposes.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta at a press briefing on May 12 disclosed government's plan on resubmitting a revised Agyapa Royalties deal to Parliament for consideration.
This comes after the deal hit a snag in the House and had to be abandoned due to opposition against it by the Minority in Parliament, Civil Society Groups and a cross section of the public.
Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil