Policy Analyst, Dr. Steve Manteaw, has requested the government to publish details of the revised Agyapa deal.
He said this will enable stakeholders confirm whether earlier concerns raised about the agreement have been amended.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in a press briefing on Thursday, reiterated the government’s intention to re-submit the Agyapa Minerals Royalties Agreement before Parliament.
Speaking on Top Story, Thursday, Dr. Steve Manteaw noted that it is essential for government to allow for the revised financial agreement to be critiqued to ensure the country benefits from the deal.
“We had expected that the Finance Minister, given that he made public that the transaction document has been revised, it would have been good, if they were acting in good faith, to disclose the revised document for us to be able to interrogate it and assure ourselves that the concerns we had about the transaction had been adequately taken care of. Some of us have been trying to have access to the supposed revised document, without success,” he complained.
“So I would take the opportunity of this medium to request the Finance Minister to publicly disclose the revised Agyapa transaction document, so that we can all discuss it from a very informed position and see how together, we can improve it for the benefit of this country,” he said.
Dr. Manteaw said government’s decision to leverage the country’s mineral revenues to finance development is not a bad idea, however, the structure of the Agyapa deal makes it a terrible transaction deal for the country.
He stressed that if the government intends to go ahead with the deal, especially in the same structure it was rejected, the campaign against the deal will not stop.
“Agyapa is a bad thing because of the way it is structured, but the notion that you want to leverage on your future mineral revenues for financing development today is not a bad idea, but the way this particular agreement was structured is a bad one, it makes it a terrible transaction.
“We would wish they abandon it. Especially, if they had not adequately taken care of the concerns we have raised, but if they decide to go ahead then, of course, we have no option to also continue with our campaign and we will see how it all ends,” he added.