The reality of Agyapa Royalties deal is that Ghana is broke – Awuah-Darko

A former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has said the reality surrounding the Agyapa Royalties transaction only depicts that Ghana is broke.

According to him, the ideology created by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government that it wants to leverage on mineral resources for the future is rather not prudent.

Speaking on Citi TV’s Point of View segment on September 9, 2020 and monitored by GhanaWeb, Awuah-Darko said, “If you look at the Agyapa Royalties deal, it is because Ghana is broke and not about any high idea of trying to leverage on mineral resources.”

“The government needs money and it needs it today because under what circumstance do you now list [Ghana’s] future mineral resource income of which was about US$200 million last year to the current valuation because the government cannot wait? The reality is that there’s an economic crisis,” he critiqued.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has indicated that investors’ confidence will not be influenced by criticisms surrounding the Agyapa Royalties transaction agreement.

This follows calls by some Civil Society Organisations (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.

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.