[ 2021-03-14 ]

I’ll support Agyapa deal 2,000% – MP Egyapa Mercer
Member of Parliament for Sekondi Constituency
Andrew Egyapa Mercer says he will offer a 2,000
percent support for the Agyapa Minerals Royalties
Transaction when it comes up in Parliament again,
all things being equal.

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The deal, despite being approved by Parliament on
Friday, August 14, 2020, had to be suspended as a
result of an order from the President.



The order followed controversy that was stirred by
a corruption-risk assessment conducted by then
Special Prosecutor, Martin Alamisi Amidu, in
October, 2020.

The assessment called into question the processes
leading to the approval and cited then Minister of
Finance Ken Ofori-Atta for doing bad job as
regards due diligence on the deal.

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It culminated in the resignation of Mr Amidu.

“The reaction I received for daring to produce
the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions
anti-corruption report convinces me beyond any
reasonable doubt that I was not intended to
exercise any independence as the Special
Prosecutor in the prevention, investigation,
prosecution, and recovery of assets of
corruption,” Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor
wrote on Monday, November 16, 2020.

“My position as the Special Prosecutor has
consequently become clearly untenable.”



On Monday, March 10, while delivering his first
state-of-the-nation address in his second term,
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo suggested
that the controversial deal should be considered
by the Eighth Parliament if it makes its way
back.

“In the course of this session of Parliament,
Government will come back to engage the House on
the steps it intends to take on the future of the
Agyapa transaction,” he hinted.

Speaking on The Key Points on TV3/3FM on Saturday,
March 13, Mr Egyapa Mercer clarified that
government never pulled the deal out of
Parliament.

“Parliament approved the transaction and
documentation. However, because of the
post-approval brouhaha, His Excellency the
President indicated that they should suspend the
process so that we can have further engagement,”
he noted.



He stressed, nonetheless, that the Minority
Caucus, which walked out of the chamber during the
approval session, had concerns with the deal
because of its timing – near the 2020 elections
– as they had approved the Minerals Income
Investment Fund Act, Act 978, way back in 2018.

He said the only genuine concern one may raise
about the transaction is valuation.

“So, look, we can segregate the propaganda from
the fact and I have said that a question that is
raised that is legitimate relates to valuation.

“I will not debate anybody who says that we
don’t have a problem with the transaction but
are we getting good value for the Finance Ministry
to now come and provide responses relative to the
question of value?

“If that question is answered, I support the
Agyapa transaction 2,000 per cent because it is
good.”



But Member of Parliament for Tamale North
Constituency Alhassan Suhuyini, who was also on
the weekend current affairs analysis show, argued
that an assessment has to be made as regards the
deal, taking into consideration its pros and
cons.

He says when the pros outweigh the cons, there has
to be fine-tuning somewhere but, for now, all
indications show that the cons overshadow the
pros, making the deal bad for Ghana.

Source - 3 News

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