Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko
The Founder and Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has sued the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bia East for claiming that he is a beneficiary of the Agyapa Royalties deal which has been formed by the government to handle royalties from the country’s mineral resources.
He said the ‘false’ and ‘unsubstantiated’ claims by the NDC MP on Accra-based ‘Neat FM’ were calculated at drawing public displeasure towards him.
Gabby, as he is affectionately called, avers that the defendant who is an MP is very aware of the fact that the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and Agyapa Royalties Limited are not owned wholly or partly by the plaintiff but by the Government of Ghana, yet he went ahead to make those ‘defamatory’ comments against him.
Agyapa Royalties Deal
In 2018, Parliament passed the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act, 2018 (Act 978) to establish a fund (Minerals Income Investment Fund) to manage the equity interests of the state in mining companies to receive mineral royalties and other related incomes due to the state from mining operations and to provide for the management and investment of the assets of the fund.
The MIIF was set up and incorporated a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in accordance with Act 978 called Agyapa Royalties Limited, which is presently wholly owned by the fund and also wholly owned by the Government of Ghana until an intended initial public offering of 49 per cent of the shares of the SPV on the London Stock Exchange.
The name initially intended for Agyapa Royalties Limited was Asaase Royalties Limited but was changed to Agyapa because more than 20 companies bearing the name “Asaase” in several variants, especially in the mining sector, existed in the register of companies.
Radio Interview
Speaking during an interview on Accra-based ‘Neat FM’, Richard Acheampong claimed that Mr. Otchere-Darko was a major beneficiary of the Agyapa Royalties deal.
The NDC MP also claimed that Agyapa Royalties Limited belonged to President Akufo-Addo and his family members, saying emphatically that “…and we asked: why is it that our natural resources, our share of the rights that generations yet unborn must come to meet and use for legacies; why are we squandering all now? And that we do not understand it. When you do some background checks about Agyapa, it used to be called Asaase Ventures and we know that Akufo-Addo’s nephew Gabby Otchere-Darko has established an FM station called ‘Asaase FM’.
“So when you look at it carefully, the deal has got something to do with the President and his family. So we were asking: how come we didn’t get any company but going for only that company?”
Court Action
Gabby insists in his writ that it is public knowledge that he is a shareholder of Accra-based ‘Asaase Radio’ and the defendant sought to imprint on the minds of the public that he (plaintiff) is the actual owner or a shareholder of Agyapa Royalties Limited, which was initially designated as Asaase Royalties Limited.
Gabby further avers in his particulars of case that the defendant knows well that the Minerals Income Investment Fund and Agyapa Royalties Limited are state-owned entities, with an intended initial public offering of 49 per cent of the shares of the latter entity on the London Stock Exchange.
He is, therefore, seeking general and aggravated damages for libel as well as costs, including lawyer’s fees from the NDC MP.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak