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The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has been explaining the structure of the Agyapa Royalties transaction and its benefits.
In an interview on PM Express on Accra-based Joynews channel, Mr Nkrumah said the deal raises no debt financing for Ghana and bears no loan interest expenses.
He added that Ghana retains a majority stake in future royalties.
“Under the transaction Ghana now has a vehicle for undertaking participating interests in mineral explorations the world over,” he said.
The Minister, who is also the MP for Ofoase Ayirebi, said it was unfortunate to hear NDC flagbearer and former President John Dramani Mahama threatened potential international investors and sought to scare them away from the transaction.
He criticized the minority’s habit of creating controversy around international transactions.
“This is not the first time, in 2017 and in 2018, our friends on the other side when we started with the Vodafone deal criticized it and made it clear that when they are elected into power, they will review it. In the end where did the review lead to? But they threatened international investors and created talks on the floatation process on the international market. May be Ghana could have taken advantage of insurance premiums and other incentives that came with the deal but because of how the constant criticism of the opposition on deals like this, those who do risks assessment on our deals often charge as more.
“Even with our Esla deal, the same thing happened. They sounded all manner of threats to international investors. When we brought in the Synohydro deal, we had a minority that wrote a letter to the IMF trying to alert them that the deal we were about to sign is a loan and not a barter arrangement. So you ask yourself to what effect? So that if the IMF says it is a loan, then they rubbish the transaction. It is no different from what is happening with the Agyapa deal as our colleagues in the minority are threatening international investors and that in the likely event that they win power, they will not honor it. I don’t think it is patriotic so we on the majority side of parliament think that the minority should stop conducting themselves in that manner,” he added.
Parliament recently gave an approval for the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in fulfilment of the Minerals Income Investment Fund Amendment which is yet to be assented by the President.
Source: Daily Mail GH
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