Agyapa Royalties: We have Ghana's interest at heart; deal can't be put on hold – Duker

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has assured Ghanaians that their interest is paramount in the Agyapa Mineral Royalties deal while reiterating that the government cannot suspend the deal.

The government of Ghana is in the process of listing Agyapa Mineral Royalties Company on the London Stock Exchange.

Speaking in an interview with Blessed Sogah on State of the Nation on Class91.3FM on Wednesday, 3 September 2020, the Board Chair of MIIF, Mr George Mireku Duker, noted that the government has absolutely no challenges with the deal.

Mr Duker stated: “If you listen to Dr Manteaw [President of CSOs in the mining industry], he only affirmed what I said here that they don’t have any problem or challenge with the deal. It’s Just that we need to consult extensively and that is what we’ve got to do”, the MP for Tarkwa Nsuaem said.

“Meet them, whatever ideas they also bring on board be factored in, going forward. So, we have nothing to hide. Ghanaians your interest is in our heart, we have Ghana at heart and we’ll always do what is right for the people of Ghana.”

The lawmaker stressed further that the deal cannot be put on hold.

“They understand that it can’t be put on hold. As I speak with you, because we’ve sent the prospectus to the regulators, they’re going through. Why? Because, we haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just to get us informed, so, when we get them informed, they’ll realise that, indeed, we’re on the right track,” Mr Duker said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has agreed to do further consultation on the agreement with civil society organisations.

This came about after some 16 CSOs that earlier kicked against the deal, met with the minister on the matter at the Finance Ministry on Wednesday, 2 September 2020.

The almost two-hour closed-door meeting sought to find common ground between the minister and the CSOs in connection with the deal.

Speaking exclusively to Class News' Charles Akrofi after the meeting, the Convenor for the CSOs, Dr Steve Manteaw, said although the deal is not on hold, “I think it was a very fruitful meeting”.

“We came to some accommodation in respect of the need for further consultations.

“The challenge now is the timing and the 'how' to go about these further consultations.

“I’ve already indicated that we are principally not against the attempt to optimise or maximise benefits from our mineral royalties, no”, he noted.

He added: “I think the challenge has to do with some weaknesses we see, which may require that we make some modification to the law itself and also to the whole project implementation approach and I think the minister seems to adopt such a pragmatic response and, so, we are hoping the group will be meeting, reconvening tomorrow to map out the next steps in terms of how we support the ministry to do additional consultations and tweaking to make sure that Ghana comes out the winner”.

Last week, the Alliance of CSOs Working on Extractive, Anti-Corruption and Good Governance called for the immediate suspension of the deal.

The CSOs said the beneficial ownership of the special purpose vehicle and Agyapa Minerals Royalties should be made public or the implementation of the deal be deferred.