President Akufo-Addo has put the Agyapa deal in relation to the Gold Royalties Monetization Transaction, under the Minerals Income Investment Act 2018 (Act 978) on hold.
This follows a risk of corruption and anti corruption assessment submitted to him by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu into the deal which became a matter of heated national debate.
A statement from the Director of Communications at the presidency (Jubilee House), Eugene Arhin said “President Akufo-Addo has also studied the report and the comments from the Minister for Finance. Based on the observations, the President has, accordingly, instructed the Minister that, in the interest of transparency and accountability to the Ghanaian people, the Agreements supporting the transaction that were submitted to Parliament, and approved by the House, should be resubmitted to Parliament for the approval process to start all over again.”
He believes this would “help address the concerns raised, principally, by the Minority, about having been given very limited time to subject properly the various Agreements to proper scrutiny. The transaction documents to be resubmitted are the Relationship Agreement, the Assignment Agreement, the Allocation Agreement, and the Investment Agreement.”
He has therefore directed that “the procurement of the services of the Transaction Advisor(s) should also be reviewed by the Ministry of Finance and the Attorney General, with the aim of taking all steps that may be necessary to remove any doubts about the integrity of the process.”
“Additionally, it is the expectation of the President that the Ministry of Finance and the Minerals Income Investment Fund and the Transaction Advisors will use this opportunity also to amend the relevant Agreements to take into account the useful feedback received during the series of stakeholder consultations over the last two months”, the statement indicated.
The President has further instructed that “ issues surrounding the value of the proposed Agyapa listing should be properly addressed in order to engender greater public confidence” whilst affirming his confidence in the Minister for Finance, the Ministry of Finance and the Board and Management of the Minerals Income Investment Fund.
He reiterated his full support and that of his Cabinet for the transaction, which he believes, ultimately, is an innovative addition to the framework of efforts of his government to enhance significantly the value that Ghana has, historically, derived from her rich natural resources.
President Akufo-Addo however took note of the conclusion of the Special Prosecutor, which states: “It is the expectation that the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment of the Agyapa Royalties Limited Agreements will guide policy decisions on this transaction, and be seen more in the terms of the vision that informed the establishment of this office and not be used for political point scoring.”
He therefore wondered “whether, in the current, understandably highly-charged political atmosphere in the country, debate on the matter should take place before the elections”, insisting “the national interest would be better served for the parliamentary proceedings on this matter to take place either after the elections or in the next Parliament.”
That, he said was because “there would be a greater chance of achieving a greater national consensus on this important issue.”
The President has since commended the Special Prosecutor for exercising his discretion, in this regard, in undertaking this exercise, and considers it an important step in enhancing the principles of good governance in the country.
in as much as the report by the Special Prosecutor makes no specific recommendations, as, according to the report, ‘assessment does not constitute an investigation’, he said it makes a fundamental observation that “this is the first time that an independent anti-corruption agency established by any government in Ghana has undertaken an analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption risk assessment of the processes leading up to the approval by Parliament of Public Agreements as part of its statutory mandate.”
He thus, welcomes this novelty of institutionalising the risk of corruption and anti-corruption risk assessment, and wholly welcomes it as an important preventive weapon in the fight against corruption in Ghana.
Many have hailed the move by the President as a good one since its shows leader does not only listen but believes in consensus building and governance, thereby shoring President Akufo-Addo’s public ratings.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent