Agyapa deal: A national transaction shouldn't be shrouded in secrecy – Togbe Afede

The President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede XIV, has said he does not see why the Agyapa Royalties deal should be shrouded in secrecy.

Addressing the Volta Regional House of Chiefs at which meeting he took strong exception to attempts to associate him personally as well as the National House of Chiefs to the controversial minerals monetisation deal, Togbe Afede XIV said: “I, in particular, I’m very much hurt by the attempt to use my name to grant legitimacy to a transaction that has been widely condemned for its secrecy and for the fact that the company involved was incorporated in a tax haven”.

“I do not see why desperation would lead anybody associated with that transaction to want to use the name of the innocent Togbe Afede XIV. I have never commented on this transaction and I have decided not to comment for good reasons,” he stated.

The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State added: “Even the Attorney General has issued a statement that showed disapproval on this transaction”.

In his view, “tax havens basically serve two purposes: helping you to avoid tax or ensure secrecy”, noting: “I don’t see why a national transaction should become a secrecy in the first place”.

“But more important for me”, Togbe Afede XIV said, “is the attempt to use my name and the national house of chiefs to grant legitimacy to this transaction”.

He revealed that the National House of Chiefs “would issue a statement promptly to deny that this ever emanated from the house”.

The President of the National House of Chiefs also denied ever condemning the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Mahama, for sharing on his Facebook timeline, a statement authored by Bolgatanga Central MP Isaac Adongo, in which the lawmaker accused President Nana Akufo-Addo and what he referred to as the “Akyem Mafia” and their cronies of seeking to appropriate Ghana’s gold resources to themselves through the Agyapa deal.

He told the Volta House of Chiefs on Wednesday, 2 September 2020 that: “I want to use the opportunity to condemn, without reservation and in no uncertain terms, three fake publications – two of which were in the name of the Volta House of Chiefs and the third one in the name of the National House of Chiefs”.

“In the first publication, the Volta House of Chiefs was alleged to have blasted the NDC and alleged that we have said that we are tired of the NDC. The second one was labelled: ‘Announcement to all Voltarians’, which was supposedly from Volta chiefs to the effect that since 1992, the Volta Region has supported the NDC party because of former President Jerry John Rawlings and that we have nothing from our support.”

“I have issued a press statement in the name of the Asogli State to disassociate myself from those publications because some of them came with my picture, so, we have written to deny that any such statement was issued by chiefs of the Volta region,” he said.