Government has started engagement with relevant stakeholders on the Agyapa Royalties arrangement. The Deputy Minister for Information, Pius Enam Hadzide disclosed this in a press conference in Accra today.
According to the Deputy Minister, the reason government has started engagement with relevant stakeholders, including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), traditional rulers and Faith-Based organizations was to provide clarity on the minerals deal and to allay the fears of Ghanaians.
“Government through the Ministry of Finance engaged with Civil Society Organizations and other stakeholders yesterday over government’s intent to activate relevant portions of the Minerals Income Investment Fund, Act 2018 as amended. This engagement was born out of government’s desire to provide clarity and information so as to disabuse the minds of anybody who may have been misled to suspect wrong doing and also to carry the country along with it as it embarks on this exciting and novel journey of adding value to our natural resources in keeping with the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda. We are happy to continue to engage and provide clarity to anybody or any institution and organization that may so desire.”
The move by government followed calls from a coalition of fifteen (15) CSOs under the banner name, Alliance of Civil Society Organizations working on extractive, anti-corruption and good governance to suspend the deal until government organized a multi-stakeholder conference to take a second look at the deal. According to the CSOs, the mineral arrangement must be suspended because the deal did not disclose in full details the terms in the arrangement prior to its approval in parliament.
However, Mr. Hadzide assured that government would continue to work in the best interest of the country in using the nation’s mineral resources in leveraging for asserts for the future.
“In the meantime, even as we engage, government shall continue to work in the best interest of the Ghanaian people, use our nation’s resources to leverage our asset for tomorrow. Let’s be reassured that the income from the Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited arrangement will be used in four main areas namely health, education, road infrastructure and housing,” he added.
Source: MOI (PR Unit)
