Agyapa deal: ‘We’ll resist Agyapa with all the blood in us’ – Ato Forson pledges

Dr Cassiel Ato Forson (NDC- Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam MP) has vowed that the minority will do everything possible to resist any attempt by the Akufo-Addo administration to place again before parliament, the Agyapa Royalties Transaction documents.

“The structure of Agyapa itself is bad; the valuation we believe that has been devalued; the asset values in excess of $3.7 billion

Read full articleat the time that we valued it and today he is coming back to parliament [to] value it at $1 billion. We think that it means the taxpayer has lost $2.7 billion. So, in itself, that alone we will not accept it,” Dr Forson explained to Joy News after the State of the Nation in a report monitored by GhanaWeb.

Ato Forson continued: “Why should the President of the Republic come back to parliament and tell us that you are bringing it back, that is disrespect. Disrespect to parliament for him to think that he is bringing back [what] some members of parliament have spoken vehemently against, something that the Civil Society Groups have spoken vehemently against, something that the Special Prosecutor had to resign [about] because he believes the structure is full of corruption and for that matter, it should not be allowed to go, something that Transparency International has written to the UK authorities [about] and the president is saying what? Bring back Agyapa?! Please that is disrespect.”

Dr Forson explained that he expected President Akufo-Addo to say that he had listened to Ghanaians and therefore the Agyapa deal was cancelled.

“We want to assure the people of Ghana that we the members of the NDC Minority will not accept Agyapa in any form. They can decide to change the name, give it a new colour, clothe it differently, bring it in any form, Agyapa is still Agyapa; we’ll not allow it to go through today or tomorrow and we have decided to fight against this structure as it stands,” he stressed.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, March 9, during his first State of the Nation’s Address of his second term, said: “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.”

The agreement which was approved by the Seventh Parliament on Friday, August 14, 2020, had to be withdrawn after a corruption-risk assessment was conducted by Martin Alamisi Amidu, the then Special Prosecutor.

Resigning a few days afterwards, the Special Prosecutor accused President Akufo-Addo of interfering in his assessment on the deal under the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act, 2018 (Act 978).

“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,” Amidu said in his resignation letter to the President.