THE NDC Minority in Parliament has expressed concern about the delay by government to lay the agreement between it and AngloGold before Parliament for approval.
It said the government in expressing its support for the deal with AngloGold told the public that it would in due course come out with a fuller statement to explain to the people the rationale for choosing the AngloGold proposal which valued Ashanti at $1.4 billion instead of the Randgold offer of $1.7 billion.
A statement issued in Accra and signed by Mr John Mahama, Minority Spokesman on Communications regretted that although government continues to make commitments in respect of the transactions, Parliament has still not received any information on this important matter.
It said the situation gives the impression that Parliament is expected to be a mere rubber stamp to the commitments that are being entered into with AngloGold.The statement noted that the government is seeking to meet deadlines set by AngloGold but does not see fit to put even the most basic information about the transaction before Parliament.
“The government announcement supporting the AngloGold proposal was rushed through after an emergency cabinet meeting only because an Anglogold deadline of October 31, 2003 was looming,” it claimed.
According to the statement, there is yet another Anglogold deadline of mid December 2003 coming up and it is likely that the coming week will see some frantic activity, including railroading Parliament to approve several commitments entered into by the government adding that “in this way the interest of AngloGold are essentially being put ahead of the national interest that government has sworn to protect and serve”.
“The government has said its support for the AngloGold bid was principally predicted on AngloGold’s technical capacity to handle the potential of the Obuasi deep mining project. The government on this basis rejected the Randgold offer which valued Ashanti at $300 million more than AngloGold’s proposal.
Unless the government provides more information about the exact commitments, AngloGold is willing to make in respect of future investment at Obuasi, it is impossible to justify support for this cheaper valuation of Ashanti,” it said.
“Indeed for many industry experts, the deep mine prospects at Obuasi are precisely the reason why the AngloGold valuation of Ashanti is considered grossly undervalued,” the minority said.
The statement noted that “the Minority is concerned that government’s regard for the significance of the Golden Share is relative only to respecting the decision of the board of Ashanti.
It said the Minority deems it instructive that a few years back, regard for the Golden Share as relative to the decision of the management and board of Ashanti, would have resulted in the acceptance of the Lonmin bid which valued Ashanti at $800 million.
It explained that the Minerals and Mining Law, currently requires a mandatory 10 per cent participation by the government in every mining company undertaking mining operation in Ghana adding that as it stands now the AngloGold offer is in breach of the law.
“It is the Minority’s hope that government will not put forward changes to the Minerals and the Mining Law simply to accommodate the wishes of AngloGold”.
The Minority called on the government to submit to Parliament and indeed the public, the terms proposed by AngloGold and the justification for the government accepting the lower valuation of Ashanti and also suggest that “it would also be helpful if the recommendation of the government advisors, Societe Generale, was made known”.
