Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says it is “unpatriotic” of some senior politicians to issue out threats to investors who may want to support the Agyapa Mineral Royalties deal.
He finds their actions “irresponsible” and detrimental to the government’s ability to pool resources for the smooth running of the Agyapa Mineral Royalties deal.
Oppong Nkrumah speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express stated: “What we find unpatriotic as a Majority is that it is not right that when the government of Ghana is in the middle of transactions like this you have senior politicians going out there threatening investors that if you participate in this we will not honour it.
“We think it is unpatriotic. We think it is not responsible. We think that if you have challenges you can raise those challenges, you can raise those questions, but do not threaten investors when the sovereign republic is out there raising resources”.
His comment comes on the back of the National Democratic Congress’ Flagbearer, John Mahama who stated in an interview on Facebook that his “government will not respect the deal” which in his opinion was shrouded in secrecy.
Mahama argued that “the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) could have played the same role as Agyapa if the Akufo-Addo led government wanted to be transparent”.
The agreement is between government and a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company which was approved in line with the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Act, 2018 (Act 978).
The approval will enable the country to use the SPV, Agyapa Royalties Limited, to secure approximately $1 billion to finance large infrastructural projects.
In view of this, Agyapa, which will operate as an independent private sector entity, will be able to raise funds from the capital market, both locally and internationally, as an alternative to the conventional debt capital market transactions.
Source: myjoyonline.com
