CSOs want tripartite meeting with government on Agyapa deal

The fifteen civil society organisations opposing the Agyapa Royalties deal say they will demand a tripartite meeting with government officials this week to discuss the controversial special purpose vehicle created to securitise Ghana’s mineral royalties, Group Convenor Dr. Steve Manteaw has said.

The meeting, expected to involve key industry players and the CSOs, will seek further clarity on the deal, which has met stiff opposition from a range of groups including the Minority.

Specific areas of discussions will include the risk nature of the venture, expected returns and reliability, and the full disclosure of faces managing the SPV.

The tripartite gathering, if agreed by the government, will raise concerns over the state’s decision to register in a tax haven as a way to maximize returns, which the Minority parliamentarians described as an endorsement of tax avoidance strategies.

Agyapa Royalties Limited created by the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), will offer some of the shares held by the fund to investors in order to raise about US$500m when it lists on the Ghana and London stock exchanges before the end of the year.

In an earlier press briefing, the 15-member Alliance of CSOs Working on Extractives, Anti-Corruption and Good Governance described the move as an attempted elite capture of state resources, calling on President Akufo-Addo to suspend the deal for further engagements.

“Ours is a struggle against elite capture of resources that commonly belong to all Ghanaians and we call on every one of us, regardless of our political persuasion, to join hands in safeguarding the national interest,” the group said at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday.

But Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta described the Agyapa Royalties deal as a rare opportunity to maximize returns from the country’s mineral resources.

“The world consists of all sorts of structures to be able to generate resources. If I, therefore, need to go to the London Stock Exchange, why [should] my company be taxed twice? It is not an issue of doing something wrong.”

‘Conflict of interest’

The appointment of Kofi Osafo Maafo, son of Senior Minister Osafo Maafo to head the Agyapa Royalties Limited has raised conflict of interest concerns from groups opposing the deal.

But the government has defended his selection, with Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah arguing that “the appointment was done global headhunting firm Conferi through a rigorous recruitment process.”

Deputy Finance Minister Charles Adu Boahen had earlier argued that the senior minister’s son is ripe for the position, having worked in investment banking and asset management portfolios for 25 years, with 18 of those years in gold mining and energy stocks.