Agyapa deal: Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Joe Osei Owusu have eggs in their faces

Politics of Thursday, November 5, 2020

Source: Peace FM

2020-11-05

A private lawyer and self-confessed member of the National Democratic Congress, lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, wants the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and the Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, to bow their heads in shame at their role in the infamous Agyapa royalty deal.

For him, the two knights sacrificed their responsibility to protect the public purse and their integrity at the altar of their parish interests.

Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia, The Private Legal; The practitioner, who is also an aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, believed that regardless of their political affiliation, the duo should have considered the impact of their actions on the state, especially the likely financial loss, and criticized them for failing in that. sense.

“As at the time the parliament approved the agreement, the president had not even granted executive approval requested by the finance minister on the various transactions of the Agyapa agreement, even the president asked parliament to reconsider the bill.

“Now there are eggs in their faces. This is an accusation against Osei Kyei Mensah and Joe Osei Owusu, who chaired the session that day. They did everything possible to please Nana Addo, including destroying their own reputations,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo earlier this week ordered the Finance Minister to return to Parliament to reconsider the arrangement in the transaction with Agyapa Mineral Royalties Limited.

This comes after the Office of the Special Prosecutor announced on Monday its disclosure of the findings of a corruption risk assessment carried out in the transaction.

According to Martin Amidu, the process was concluded already on October 15 and had submitted its conclusions to the Ministry of Presidency and Finance on October 16.

In August this year, the PASB, as part of its mandate, requested from the Ministry of Finance documents related to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that help the country to obtain around $ 1 billion to finance infrastructure projects.

This followed criticism from civil society organizations about the red flags in the transaction.

The minority in parliament has described the deal as one shrouded in secrecy, adding that its nature had a propensity to breed corruption, a position the government has vehemently rejected.

The agreement said to be in line with the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Law, 2018 (Law 978), was approved without the support of the Minority in Parliament.