Hot!Politics

Kwame Jantuah astonished over return of Agyapa Royalties deal

The Chief Executive Officer of African Energy Consortium Limited, Kwame Jantuah, is astonished over the comment by the President to return the controversial Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited Agreement to Parliament.

He said that he was shocked by the confidence with which President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made the comment.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address on Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo stated that “the government will come back to engage the House on the steps it intends to take on the future of the Agyapa transaction.”

The botched deal was flagged as corruption laced by former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu and resigned from the post, citing interference in his corruption-risk assessment of the deal by the President.

According to Mr Jantuah, “I was aghast when the President said what he said and the confidence with which he said it. I was taken aback, maybe Agyapa will come back in a different form, so let’s wait and see”.

Parliament on August 14, 2020 approved the controversial Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited Agreement with the government, despite walkout by Minority.

Two years ago, the House passed the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act 2018, which established the fund to manage equity interests of Ghana in mining companies, and receive royalties on behalf of the government.

The law allows the fund to establish Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to use for appropriate investments and last month the government introduced an amendment to the Act to ensure SPVs had unfettered independence.

The approval will enable the country to use the SPV and Agyapa Royalties Limited to secure $1 billion to finance large infrastructural projects, operate as an independent private sector entity, raise funds from capital market, both locally and internationally, as an alternative to conventional debt capital market transactions.

The funds, which are expected to be raised from Ghana Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange, will be long-term capital, without corresponding increase in Ghana’s total debt stock, hence without public debt repayment obligation.

Special Prosecutor Amidu called on the Ministry of Finance to hold on with its scheduled Initial Public Offer on the Agyapa deal until he was done with his corruption-risk assessment of the transaction.–Starr FM

Show More
Back to top button