Ofori-Atta, Adu-Boahen must recuse themselves from Agyapa deal - Franklin Cudjoe

President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has called for Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and one of his deputies, Charles Adu-Boahen, to recuse themselves from the Agyapa deal.

The deal has been temporarily suspended following a corruption risk assessment by the Office of Special Prosecutor that found numerous infractions of law about the deal.

Franklin Cudjoe told Citi News on Saturday that calls for the resignation or dismissal of the Finance Minister over the matter is a bad call.

“So I think right from the onset, the Finance Committee did a thoroughly shoddy job. Either they decided to be sleepy on the job or decided not to pay attention to the basic evaluation mathematics. We could have avoided this shame. We have entered this deal badly and I think the call on the Finance Minister is not necessarily proper.

“I rather wish he together with Charles Adu-Boahen recuse themselves from the deal. The president has enough other competent men to put together the deal and then they can be approached at later stages after widely consultative stages,” Mr Cudjoe is quoted in a Citi News report.

There have been many proposals for the dismissal of the Minister of Finance over the Agyapa Minerals Royalties deal.

Presidential Running Mate of the PPP, Mr Asamoah Siaw, said Mr Ofori-Atta engaged in "conflict of interest, bid-rigging and violation of procurement rules" in his attempt to transfer Ghana's mineral royalties into private hands under the guise of creating value for natural resources.

The deal is expected to be taken back to Parliament next year for the issues raised about the deal to be resolved.