The Danquah Institute has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not to abandon the Agyapa Mineral Royalties project.
According to the Institute, he should take into account all the useful contributions, review the procurement processes, and return the agreements to Parliament for greater scrutiny and allow the listing to take place.
Agyapa, the political Think-tank said, portends long-term benefits for Ghana and expressed hope objectivity, positive patriotism, and commitment to the public interest will replace the purist devotion to the disturbing new culture of ‘oppositionism’ and cynicism.
Executive Director, Richard Ahiagbah, who made the call, argued that the Agyapa transaction is just another piece in the transformation jigsaw of the Akufo-Addo presidency.
He stated that the President campaigned in 2016 on a manifesto and vision of transforming the economy from a mere exporter of raw materials to value addition.
“In fulfillment of this promise, he is pushing an industrialization agenda by instituting 1 District 1 Factory, brought in VW, Toyota, and others to assemble vehicles in Ghana, and pushing Ghana to be in the center of an integrated African economy.”
“He worked with President Alassane Ouattara next door to extract more value from cocoa’s price for our farmers and has doubled the volumes of cocoa beans processed in Ghana.”
“He has set up the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Industry Corporation to facilitate our bauxite’s complete value chain exploitation and has also done a similar set up for our iron ore deposits, which will combine with our manganese to build a steel industry in Ghana.
Cabinet has passed a policy to see more of our gold refined here in Ghana. More of our farm products are being processed right here in Ghana,” he said.
According to him, Agyapa is designed to build a credible multi-billion international company publicly listed on both the London and Ghana stock exchanges, with the Ghana government holding majority shares (at least 51%).
He noted that though the government would have the controlling shares, the company will operate on strictly commercial principles without any direct government interference and making money for Ghana to invest in more mining fields in Ghana and Africa.
“We all know that once our raw materials leave our shores, their value multiplies, and we are not part of that higher value play. This is what Agyapa seeks to change,” he said.
Mr. Ahiagbah expressed disgust at debate over the Agyapa deal, which he described as akin to a neo-colonialist mentality fighting against novel attempts to do things differently to earn Ghana more from its rich natural resources.
He lamented that these voices that have embarked on a politics of ‘oppositionism’ see nothing wrong with low-value Ghana gets from the exploitation of its wealth by foreign companies, and, yet, scream over fees paid to transaction advisors who are working day and night to help the nation find better ways to earn more from her minerals.
The Executive Director expressed disgust that CSOs are today questioning how Databank Group, which has won more awards than any other securities company in the country, could become a transaction advisor for Agyapa.
He said, “It does not matter that Databank has been involved in every IPO for every state enterprise in Ghana since 1990 and has worked with all governments under the Fourth Republic.”
Such negativism, he said, turns to make CSOs appear anti-progress, anti-free market, and anti-business and stressed that the cynicism and dismissive posture undermine policy advocacy’s very spirit and practice.
He urged the CSOs to rethink their total hard-line opposition to Agyapa because it is unproductive and unprogressive.
Mr. Ahiagbah expressed shock the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is threatening to go on demonstration to demand payments legitimately earned by the transaction advisors.
He questioned how the NDC could not develop the same appetite to even talk about how Ghana can get back the €5 million paid by Airbus as bribes through the younger brother of the Presidential Candidate in a transaction, which the evidence shows, was led right from the beginning to the end by the then Vice President John Dramani Maham.
Source: mypublisher24.com