Agyapa Deal: Haruna Iddrisu lied – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu peddled falsehood regarding the number of hours the Agyapa Royalties agreement stayed in the house before its approval, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader, has said.

He told Berla Mundi in an interview on the New Day on TV3 Wednesday September 23 that the deal was in Parliament for one week, contrary to claims by the Minority leader that it was in the house for only four hours.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said, “My colleague the minority leader has stated that it took just four hours to complete the deal.

“That is most untruthful. And really, I didn’t expect that to come from the Honorable Haruna Iddrisu. The deal was in Parliament for one week.”

“We interrogated the issues. They had raised many issues, one relating to the fact we had done an amendment to an Act of Parliament,” the lawmaker for Suame Constituency added.

The Minority Leader who is also Member of Parliament for Tamale South in stating their position on the deal said a future NDC Government will not honour the terms of the agreement. He stated their position on the matter including the following:

The Minority's position

Ladies and gentlemen, the Minority in Parliament would like to state unequivocally that a future NDC Government will not honour the terms of this unconscionable agreement as described by the current Attorney-General.

Pursuant to this, we wish to state as follows:

a) The NDC is of the strong view that the decision to mortgage Ghana’s future mineral royalties in perpetuity is grossly inimical to the interest of the people of Ghana and runs contrary to the constitutional imperative that governmental power be exercised for the welfare of the people of Ghana. This deal fails to enhance public welfare. Our analysis shows clearly that Ghana stands to lose billions of United States Dollars in revenue as a consequence of this illegal transaction. This is because annual gold royalties from the mining sector amounts to about USD200 Million on the average. It makes no economic sense, therefore, to mortgage these receivables to an opaque Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in exchange for an upfront amount of just USD500 million.

b) To ensure the deal meets best international practices, the Minority demanded that Parliament be furnished with periodic reports on the activities of the SPV in the spirit of accountability and transparency. These legitimate demands were vehemently opposed by the government and the majority side in parliament.

c) Minority’s specific concerns on the offshore entity (Agyapa Royalties)