Abrogate Agyapa deal now – Economic Fighters League to government

Pressure group, Economic Fighters League has joined other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) calling on government to drop the Agyapa deal now.

According to the group, the deal will only benefit the rich in society while the poor remain impoverished.

In a press release signed by the secretary of the group, Hardi Yakubu, it stated that, “the government must listen to sane voices and abrogate this deal. We call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to resist this deal in the interest of the nation just as they resisted similar obnoxious deals in the past.”.

“From the discussions and understanding of the nature of the arrangement, it is clear that this is the latest attempt by a section of the privileged class, in this case, frontliners of the NPP government to shortchange the nation for personal gain. Nothing else explains the desire to mortgage future streams of income for $500 million, the secrecy surrounding the deal, and the sheer arrogance with which the promoters have approached the public discourse on it,” the statement added.

They, therefore, called on Ghanaians to come in their numbers, to resist the Agypa deal because it is not in the interest of the nation.

Read below their statement

Press Release

01/09/2020

#DropTheAgyapaDeal

1. The Economic Fighters League has followed carefully the discussions on the Agyapa Deal over the last couple of weeks.

2. Through the deal, the Government of Ghana seeks to transfer royalties from our mineral resources to a company registered in the tax haven of Jersey, United Kingdom. This is in furtherance of the government’s desire to raise $500 million up front using the royalties as leverage.

3. The said company, Agyapa Royalties Limited will be listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Ghana Stock Exchange where 49% shares will be offloaded to raise the intended $500 million.



4. From the discussions and understanding of the nature of the arrangement, it is clear that this is the latest attempt by a section of the privileged class, in this case, frontliners of the NPP government to shortchange the nation for personal gain. Nothing else explains the desire to mortgage future streams of income for $500 million, the secrecy surrounding the deal, and the sheer arrogance with which the promoters have approached the public discourse on it.

5. As we have continuously noted, the resources of this country are not owned and controlled by the people. They are directed largely to the benefit of foreign entities and a few Ghanaians in the privileged class.

6. At a time when we should be talking about Production Share Agreements (PSA) in the mining of our mineral and oil resources in order to curtail the exploitative relationship between Ghana and the mining interests, these greedy and visionless leaders are not only continuing in the same tragedy of the flawed logic that suggests that we only deserve royalties because mining companies are doing us a favour by exploiting our minerals. The frontliners of the NPP government are willing to deny us this last string of “benefit” for themselves and their family.

7. The government must listen to sane voices and abrogate this deal. We call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to resist this deal in the interest of the nation just as they resisted similar obnoxious deals in the past.

Revolutionary regards

Hardi Yakubu

Fighter-General