Former Minister for Sports and MP for Odododiodoo, Nii Lante Vanderpuye has warned the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) not to dare lay the Agyapa Deal in Parliament.
Describing the government as incompetent, the MP said the Agyapa deal was not only fraudulent but one that would deprive Ghanaians of the benefits of natural resources.
Speaking on Dwaboase on TV XYZ, the former minister stated that the Minority will kick against the Agyapa Deal at all cost.
“We in the Minority will kick against the Agyapa Deal with all our might,” he told host Prince Minkah.
Asked how assuring that was, Lante Vanderpuye said in Akan that, “We will trade blows again. That is what Ghanaians want. If they joke, It will be bloody.”
Last week, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta indicated that the controversial deal ought to be taken through the appropriate processes in order to make it work because it could reduce the country’s debt exposure.
Speaking during a press briefing to announce details of the African Development Bank 2022 Annual General Meeting he stated the Agyapa deal “is not about whether the monetisation of mineral royalties or listing of the company is bad or good, it is good because that is how you raise resources.”
“The question is the process of doing that. If we have a problem with the process, let’s articulate it, let’s cure it, but let us not drop something that would be good for us and reduce our debt exposure,” Ofori-Atta said.
Agyapa Deal
In August 2020, Parliament approved the Agyapa Minerals Royalties Investment Agreement and four related documents to monetise Ghana’s future gold royalties.
Under the agreement, Agyapa Mineral Royalties Limited which has been incorporated in Jersey near the UK is expected to receive and manage royalties from 16 gold mining leases over the next 15 years or more.
In exchange, the firm will list on the London and Ghana Stock Exchanges (GSE) and raise at least $500 million for government to invest in infrastructure, health and education.
The deal will allow private people to buy a 49 per cent stake in the firm.
Resistance
The deal has been resisted by many Ghanaians and CSOs over corruption concerns.
A convener of the pressure group–#Fixthecountry– Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor has urged the Minority to stop the passage of the Agyapa Deal in Parliament with their last blood.
The private legal practitioner who was speaking on Abranaaso on TV XYZ Saturday morning observed that the government was bent on passing the bill at all cost to mortgage the country’s natural resources.
He said the minority MPs in Parliament have the numbers to resist the deal and so they should not think of heading to Supreme Court over the matter.
“…If the country is for us then we need to rise up to stop the Agyapa deal,” Barker-Vormawor stated as he advised the opposition parties to hit the streets to resist the passage of Agyapa.
Barker-Vormawor has vowed to lead a big street protest to kick against the deal.
He alleged that some people in government and their agents are going to enrich themselves with the agreement to the detriment of Ghanaians whose lands are plowed to get the natural resources if the deal went through.
