You’re complicit in stinky Agyapa deal - Apaak jabs Majority leader

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu Dr Clement Apaak has taken a swipe at Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, saying he is complicit in the Agyapa Royalties deal brouhaha.

He said despite the Minority raising serious concerns about fraud and how shady the process in approving the deal was, the Majority lead by their leader went ahead to approve it.

He has therefore asked the Majority leader to accept responsibility for the outcome of the deal because his side rushed and approved the deal without doing due diligence.

“He and his majority side canvassed for, justified, defended and voted to pass the stinky and corrupt Agyapa deal despite all our protestations.”

The MP has also demanded the retrieval of all resources that have already gone into the “stinky” deal.

“Shouldn’t the millions of dollars spent in this brazen attempt to cheat, steal from Ghanaians, by NADAA and his NPP, using the Agyapa deal as a conduit be retrieved, and those responsible duly punished? Who are the beneficiaries of these monies?”

Meanwhile, the Majority leader has said there is a need for lawmakers to improve on the conduct of doing business in the House.

He was if the view this would cure some of the challenges that come along with the passage and approvals of some laws and agreements.

His comments come after the report of the corruption risk assessment on the Agyapa deal was released and described as a deal which was approved without recourse to the law.

The Special Prosecutor said the deal was fraught with nepotism, cronyism and favouritism.

“The Special Prosecutor in a letter with reference number OSP/SCR/20/12/20 dated 16th October 2020 conveyed the conclusions and observations of the anti-corruption assessment to H. E. the President and the Hon. Minister of Finance as a matter of courtesy before informing the public.”

“Two weeks is more than too long for this Office to continue withholding the announcement of the completion of its sixty-four (64) page report to the public. It is important that this Office has the freedom to discharge its anti-corruption mandate and keep the public informed. I have, therefore, decided to bring the facts of the conclusion of the anti-corruption assessment of the Agyapa Royalties Transactions by this Office to the attention of the public and to avoid the continued speculations on this matter,” he said.

Speaking in an interview with journalists on this matter on Tuesday, November 3, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, opined: “I don’t know the content of the bag that is coming to us. If we access it and we believe that we can work with it then we apply ourselves to it.

“Already, we have a tall order for us to process to transact. If adding to it and we believe it is possible, so be it. I don’t know what it entails so I cannot make a definite statement on it.”

“There is nowhere in the world that Parliament is beyond reproach especially given our own circumstances when we don’t have experts to independently consult to give us opinions about that.

“And we must be ready to improve on that in order to improve on the quality of our own positions on matters. All of us are not experts. It is important that we engage consultants and we don’t take whatever comes from the government as a given. So we must work to improve the conduct of business in the House.

“That one, yeah, I agree but for anybody to say that we didn’t do good work because we had four hours that is not true.”

But Dr Apaak wants him to accept responsibility because he is complicit since his side threw caution to the wind and rushed the process of having the deal approved.

Read his statement below

Folks, the Majority in Parliament is complicit in the Agyapa stinky scandal. We, the Minority, opposed this deal from the onset. We said the deal was shady, fraudulent and designed not to benefit Ghanaians. We walked out and never participated in the vote to pass it in Parliament.

Hon. Kyei Mensah Bonsu should man-up for his role as majority leader and leader of government business in the House; he Shepherded the rushed process to pass the deal. He and his majority side canvassed for, justified, defended and voted to pass the stinky and corrupt Agyapa deal despite all our protestations.

Shouldn’t the millions of dollars spent in this brazen attempt to cheat, steal from Ghanaians, by NADAA and his NPP, using the Agyapa deal as a conduit be retrieved, and those responsible duly punished? Who are the beneficiaries of these monies?

By the way, the MoF actually designated the Agyapa deal as “Innovative Financing Solution”. Well, it's now crystal clear that it's more of “Innovative Stealing Strategy”

I remain a citizen!

Dr Clement Apaak M.P/ PC Builsa South