FLASHBACK: Get ready to refund monies made from Agyapa deal - Mahama to officials

Former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, in November 2020 stated categorically that any firm that made financial gains from the Agyapa Gold Royalty transaction must get ready to refund those monies when the NDC comes into power.

“The difference is that the proposed Ghana Gold Company was going to be 100 percent owned by the government and the people of Ghana and not the Agyapa one. With the Agyapa deal, Ghana owns only 51 percent and 49 percent held by other people we don’t know,” John Mahama said.

Read the full story originally published on November 23, 2020, by GhanaWeb

The presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has indicated he will audit any person or firm that made financial gains from the Agyapa Gold Royalty transaction.

According to John Dramani Mahama, any government official who made any monetary gain from the transaction should be prepared to reimburse if elected president in the upcoming polls.

“The difference is that the proposed Ghana Gold Company was going to be 100 percent owned by the government and the people of Ghana and not the Agyapa one. With the Agyapa deal, Ghana owns only 51 percent and 49 percent held by other people we don’t know,” John Mahama said.

He continued, “Ghana Gold Company was being registered here in Ghana but Agyapa was registered in an offshore tax haven so that the identities of the shareholders will be hidden. Civil society organizations and right-thinking Ghanaians have all expressed misgivings with this Agyapa deal. And I have said and my advice to president Akufo-Addo is that they should desist immediately from signing that deal because as we have said clearly, we are going to oppose it, and we will do everything legitimate to frustrate that agreement in the interest of Ghanaians.”

“If I become president and by the will of God, I will become president, I will not respect that agreement. They should bring that agreement back and hold a meeting with Civil Society Organizations, the chiefs, and all the stakeholders to whom that gold royalties belong and let us achieve consensus on how we want to monetize our gold royalties and every penny that has gone underhand will be retrieved. I assure you. So, they (government officials) should return those monies,” he cautioned.

The former president said this while addressing a gathering of chiefs and people on a tour of the Mampong constituency in the Ashanti Region on Saturday, November 21, 2020.

Prior to approving the Agyapa Royalties transaction, Parliament in 2018 passed the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Act 2018 which establishes the Fund to manage the equity interests of Ghana in mining companies and receive royalties on behalf of the government.

The sole purpose of the fund is to manage and invest these royalties and revenue from equities for higher returns for the benefit of the country and government through the MIIF.

In exchange for that, the Agyapa Royalties Limited aims to raise between US$500 million and US$750 million for the Government on the Ghana and London Stock exchange’s intended for developmental projects.