We will not accept any Agyapa deal valued less than $3.7 billion – Cassiel Ato Forson
Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Spokesperson Finance, has said his party believes the Agyapa Royalties deal was previously undervalued.
He disclosed that they will not accept a deal worth less than 3.7 billion dollars.
“Currently, the government is saying the valuation is a billion US dollars and we are selling 49 per cent out there to get about five hundred billion US dollars. We are saying, that is grossly undervalued and that will mean that [the] Government of Ghana has given taxpayers money of about 1.3 billion US dollars away.
“We will not accept any valuation that is going to be under 3.7billion US dollars,” he stated.
The former Deputy Minister of Finance reiterated in an interview with TV3’s Roland Walker on Thursday, October 14 that “We are not going to accept for [the] government of Ghana to incorporate Ghana’s sovereign wealth fund in a tax haven, we will not accept that because are aware of its consequences and the fact that a lot of the activities in tax havens are not in a transparent manner”.
His remarks follow Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s announcement on Tuesday, October 12 that the Transaction will be brought back to Parliament once the House resumes its regular session.
He revealed to journalists that “The Attorney General has looked at it, we have had a few stakeholder meetings. I think the new board should be energized to review that and then go through the Parliamentary process. I am unequivocal that it is the way to go in terms of monetizing our minerals and finding a way to the level of debt that the country has”.
It will be recalled that after a corruption-risk assessment by then-Special Prosecutor Martin Alamisi Amidu, the deal, which was authorized by the Seventh Parliament on Friday, August 14, 2020, had to be withdrawn amidst controversy which in the resignation letter of Martin Amidu to President Akufo-Addo was an issue to exposed the unresolved of the government to fight corruption.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
