Government spent $12m on suspended Agyapa Royalties deal

It has emerged that the government spent $12 million on the suspended Agyapa royalties deal. The CEO of the Minerals Income Investment Fund, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, disclosed this at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Sitting.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ordered the suspension of the Agyapa deal following a public outcry in 2021.

The government proposed the deal to raise funds through mineral royalties for key infrastructure projects but was eventually suspended after the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and some civil society organisations opposed it.

However, according to the CEO of the Minerals Income Investment Fund, 12 million dollars was expended on the processes to issue the initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange before the suspension.

Responding to whether the Fund did due diligence, Mr Koranteng said “My understanding honourable chair is that the Ministry of Finance procured the services of international consultancy and companies and financial institutions that have done this in the past and that the advice provided was what Ministry of Finance stood on.”

“We started with the Ministry of Finance and from the documents that we have, it is clear that the correct advice was provided on the set-up of a gold royalties company where the streaming of the royalties would benefit Ghana.”