Finance Minister-designate Ken Ofori-Atta has urged Ghanaians to brace themselves up for the reality that comes with the diversification of the country’s natural resources and leveraging them into equity.

He said this to the Appointments Committee of Parliament during his vetting on Thursday, March 25, 2021.

Mr. Ofori-Atta believes that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo requested the Agyapa Royalties agreement be resubmitted to Parliament because of the enormous gains for the country.

“What do we do with our natural resources to leverage it into equity? I think that is a question that we have to face,” he said.

The Finance Minister-designate added that “As to how that is mobilized and with the issues we contend with, I think that is the reason why the president wants us to submit to parliament.

Philosophically, I hope we are all going to come to terms with the reality of diversifying how we capitalize and fund that transformation which we intend to do.”

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during his state of the nation address said the government will come back to engage Parliament on the steps it intends to take on the future of the Agyapa transaction.

The mineral royalties deal has over the period been greeted with mixed reactions. A cross-section of the public believes it is not a worthy transaction while others think otherwise.

Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu’s Corruption Risk Assessment on the Agyapa deal also raised red flags over the deal, describing the deal as fraught with corruption.