The Agyapa agreement exposes Ghana’s poor economic management

Ghana, Africa’s largest gold-producing Republic, which exported $6.7bn worth of gold in 2019 alone, seeks to raise $500m from the sale of up to 49% of Agyapa Royalties on the London and Ghana stock exchanges. Agyapa, incorporated in Jersey (a tax haven) will receive approximately 76% of the royalties generated by the 12 major mining firms in Ghana and four development projects. Mining firms currently pay only 3-5% of gross revenue from operations.

The cash received from the major Ghana-based mining firms will be used to pay dividends and acquire royal streams from other mines in Ghana and across Africa. This is a completely unorthodox initiative shrouded within the secretive legal structure of Jersey — it allows government to conduct business on the blindside of civil society.

Our exchequer, Ken Ofori-Atta, after an opulent ‘Ghana on the rise’ roadshow toured New York, Boston, and London - along with Ernest Addison (Governor, Bank of Ghana) to borrow, on March 20th 2019, $3bn in Eurobonds despite concerns raised by civil society and the NDC. By the second quarter of 2020, under his tenure as finance minister, Ghana’s economy contracted for the first time since 1981, with a pathetically high gross debt. Our economy still remains on a downward path.

Ken Ofori-Atta’s strategy for our cash-strapped Republic has been to beg our creditors for a debt-relief program and demand more loans. G20 central banks have focused on trillion-dollar economic recovery plans for their economies and turned a blind eye to Ghana.

The agreement was flagged by the office of the independent special prosecutor after an anti-corruption assessment was conducted. The Presidency intends to shove the Agyapa agreement down the throats of Ghanaians, although public opinion is strongly against it, just to stuff the bellies of a detached political elite and mismanage the remains.

The Presidency intends to shove the deal down the throats of Ghanaians, although public opinion is strongly against it, just to stuff the bellies of a detached political elite.