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The minority leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, has said that Parliament cannot remedy the shortcomings of the Agyapa mineral royalty agreement.
The minority had been opposed in Parliament but went through the approval process.
Some civil society organizations expressed their concern after Parliament’s approval and therefore the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), exercising its discretion, decided to carry out a corruption and anti-corruption risk assessment.
The deal, according to the OSP, contains some loose ends.
After the OSP submitted its report to the Presidency, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday ordered Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta to take the agreement to Parliament to go through the approval process again.
But speaking to the media, the minority leader said that the loose ends identified by the OSP cannot be cured by Parliament.
“Only ten of the mining companies make significant contributions to our total revenue. Parliament cannot remedy the defects identified by the special prosecutor ”.
He asked “how the parliament is going to cure nepotism and cronyism. How is the parliament that painted an executive director going to cure without due process? How is parliament going to heal that passed a resolution on a law that doesn’t exist? You don’t build a house on nothing, it was built on nothing. How is parliament going to remedy that a motion is presented and the motion is amended at the same time it was going to be adopted to allow room to wait for a president to advance a bill passed by parliament?
“We feel strongly vindicated, the truth must always be on the side of the political minority at all times.”
He added that “Ghanaians will now understand why I momentarily lost my cool and my temper. For an important national issue of this character and nature, you find that a minister of state trivializes it with ‘papa no’ at that moment, without worrying about the weight and magnitude of this particular transaction. “
“You want to earn gold income for the next 10-15 years. What does that mean for the state, what does it mean for the bosses and the people who earn a part of the mineral development fund? The government ministers were joking and reduced that transaction to a travel drop. “
In addition, he mentioned that the minority is not likely to change their position.
“But we don’t support it today, we don’t support it tomorrow, we don’t support it in the future. Parliament cannot correct any of the defined defects. “
We reproduce in the attached file below a full copy of Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta’s comment to the OSP report that he sent to Chair Akufo-Addo.
Below is a copy of the full report of the Special Prosecutor
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