A chartered Management Accountant and Lecturer at the University of Mines and Technology, Dr Frank Boateng says the Agyapa Royalties deal is a good one and that Ghanaians should embrace it.
Parliament gave approval in August this year to give the government of Ghana the permit to establish a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to gain maximum value from its mineral royalties.
The approval was to allow the country monetize its mineral income in accordance with the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Act of 2018 (Act 978) with the Act empowering Agyapa Royalties Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle, to secure about $500 million from interested shareholders.
The money is intended to be used to finance infrastructural projects in the country.
The Government of Ghana will own 51 per cent of the shares of the company and remaining 49 per cent floated on the London Stock Exchange.
This has raised lots of concerns from Civil Society Organization (CSOs) and the NDC describing the deal as not transparent enough.
But speaking in an interview on Dynamite Breakfast Show on Dynamite FM in Tarkwa, Dr Frank Boateng said the deal is going to help the country to make good use of the mineral royalties from the mining companies.
According to him, nothing stops government from having a secondary listing of Agyapa Royalties on Ghana Stock Exchange apart from the London Stock Exchange to allow Ghanaians who are interested in buying shares to also buy shares in Agyapa.
He said we need to identify any possible flaws in the deal and address them for the people of Ghana to get maximum benefit from it.
The NDC Constituency Secretary for Tarkwa Nsuaem, George Enimil who called through the programme said the deal will not help the citizens of Ghana because is not transparent enough.
He was of the view, that if the country needs that huge amount of money for development, the government could go for loan rather than mortgaging the country’s royalties.
Dr Boateng who disagreed with him said going for a loan will add up to Ghana’s debt stock which will not help, because the country will have to pay interest and principal.
He believes we have to be creative by leveraging on the country’s assets so that instead of going for debt, the country goes in for equity because that is not a loan that will attract interest.
Dr Frank Boateng said the right question to ask is ” what measures have been put in place by government to draw programmes tied to specific projects on monies that will be accrued from these investments with proper monitoring and evaluation to ensure a direct flow of development”
He said ‘’this will come with a proper framework which will let Ghanaian know what the money will be used for but not to politicise the deal’’
Source: Westernghnews
