 |
| Former President John Mahama |
Former President John Mahama has said that if the
Agyapa agreement is reintroduced, the NDC would strongly fight it.
“The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will
oppose it vigorously,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
He stressed: “As I emphasised in my Presentation
on Ghana at a crossroads “Government must clarify reports which are rife in the
investment community that it intends to use the Heritage Fund as collateral to
raise a US$2 billion loan from a consortium of banks. We wish to serve notice
that if this turns out to be true, we in the NDC will oppose it vigorously in
the same way that we oppose the Agyapa deal.”
Mr Mahama further noted: “We cannot support the
collateralization of every single source of future revenue just to finance
today’s consumption”.
The remark follows Finance Minister Ken
Ofori-recent Atta's statement that the administration is still evaluating the
move.
According to sources, the Minerals Income
Investment Fund (MIIF) is rethinking its approach for listing Agyapa Royalties
on the London and Ghana Stock Exchanges.
About the Agyapa deal
This contentious Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited
deal with Ghana was passed by parliament despite a minority walkout on August
14th.
Government royalties will be managed by this fund,
which was established in Ghanaian mining businesses with government equity
holdings two years ago and is funded by the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act
2018.
Royalties and equities income are to be managed
and invested by the fund to maximise profits for the government.
Investment may be done via the creation of Special
Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) as permitted by legislation. Last month, the government
enacted a modification to the statute to guarantee that the SPVs had complete
autonomy.
With the clearance, the nation would be able to
access around $1 billion in financing for significant infrastructure projects
via the use of a special purpose corporation, Agyapa Royalties Limited.
Furthermore, as a result, the private sector
organisation Agyapa may raise money from the capital market, both domestically
and internationally, as an alternative to the traditional debt capital market
operations.
There would be no rise in Ghana's overall debt
stock as a result of the funds, which are planned to be obtained via the Ghana
Stock Exchange (GSE) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Special Prosecutor on Agyapa
Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has asked the
Finance Ministry to postpone the planned initial Public Offering (IPO) on the
Agyapa royalties agreement until he has completed his investigation into the transaction's
corruption risk.
“This Office would have wished to complete its
corruption risk assessment on the Agyapa Royalties Transaction soonest but for
the non-submission of the information and documents pending to be submitted by
your Ministry. The information and documents you supplied concerned mainly the
processes for and the appointment of the Transaction Advisors which goes to the
root of any corruption risk assessment,” Mr Amidu said in a letter to the
Finance Ministry.
The letter added: “Information and documents
relating to the identification and recommendation by the transaction advisors
to your Ministry for appointment a list of other services providers and or
underwriters that may be required to complete the transaction as provided in
clause 2.2.1 of the mandate agreement amongst others, that are critical to any
through corruption risk assessment are also outstanding. The legal opinions
particularly of the principal legal advisor to the government under the
Constitution are relevant to ensure compliance with her recommendations as part
of any corruption risk assessment.”
“In the circumstances, this Office wishes to urge
you to abide by the results of the corruption risk assessment it is undertaking
on the transaction before moving to the launching of the IPO transaction. This
Office makes this suggestion on the grounds of prudence on your part and to
also not give the impression that the mandate of this Office on prevention of
corruption is of no consequence to the transaction,” it noted.
Source: ghananews.hrforum.uk
0 Comments