GhanaWeb Polls: 71% of respondents want Agyapa Royalties deal terminated

A majority of respondents, who took part in a poll conducted by GhanaWeb have called for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to terminate the controversial Agyapa Royalties transaction agreement.

The results from the poll which was conducted between September 3-7, 2020 showed some 71.18% representing 3,398 votes called for the deal to be terminated.

Some 23.57% of respondents representing 1,125 votes opted for the deal to still go ahead while 251 votes represented by 5.26% showed they were indifferent about the motion.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has indicated of government’s willingness to engage with Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) and faith-based groups as part of efforts to demonstrate transparency of the deal after they raised concerns.

This follows calls by some CSOs and the minority calling for the transaction to be suspended over what they say is “a lack of transparency” on terms of the agreement prior to its approval in Parliament on August 14, 2020.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, however, has assured that the investing public’s confidence will not be influenced by criticisms surrounding the Agyapa Royalties transaction agreement.

Ofori-Atta stated investors are knowledgeable enough to welcome the importance of constructive debate in regards to the transaction.

Prior to approving the Agyapa Royalties transaction, Parliament in 2018 passed the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Act 2018 which establishes the Fund to manage the equity interests of Ghana in mining companies and receive royalties on behalf of the government.

The sole purpose of the fund is to manage and invest these royalties and revenue from equities for higher returns for the benefit of the country and government through the MIIF.

In exchange for that, the Agyapa Royalties Limited aims to raise between US$500 million and US$750 million for the Government on the Ghana and London Stock exchange’s intended for development projects.

See the results from the poll below:



Background

GhanaWeb launched its polls in May with the first question being: Should the EC go ahead with the new register?

This poll question gained 141,132 responses in 48 hours and over 2,000 people commented under the poll expressing divergent views about the Electoral Commission and the new voters’ register.

The GhanaWeb Poll is an open-access poll that allows participants to self-select into participation. The results of the poll cannot be generalized, but are only representative of the participants of the poll.

The poll seeks to enable GhanaWeb readers to predict the opinions of Ghanaians on issues and decisions that affect the country.