Kofi Adams, a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Member of Parliament for Buem, has revealed that the committee was unaware of the government’s $12 million expenditure on the suspended Agyapa royalties deal.
The disclosure was made by the CEO of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, during a PAC sitting on Tuesday, February 13. According to him, the amount was incurred in the process of issuing the initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange before the suspension.
In an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Mr. Adams expressed surprise at the revelation, stating that the committee had not been informed about the expenditure, and the Auditor General’s report did not capture it either. He indicated that this information came to light due to a public interest question during the PAC session.
“This is the very first time that we all are being provided with this information that the country actually wasted $12 million of its money at the time we have been told that the country was faced with a number of challenges in chasing after a ghost. And that the president and all those who considered this whole deal never informed all of us that $12 million of our money had already been funded into a project that didn’t have the permission of appropriate bodies,” he stated.
“According to the CEO of MIIF, the Ministry of Finance gave them the go-ahead to go into such an investment and that in taking a decision to stop, they were not involved. And that he could not even provide us with the reasons why the decision to stop was taken. And according to him, the letter to stop was sent to the Attorney General, who looked at it and advised. They as MIIF were not involved in any way in terms of stoppage. And truly speaking this was the first time. And this was not even in the Auditor General’s report but this was out of a public interest question…A member wanted to know about the Agyapa deal and the recent investment in the lithium found in the central region,” he added.
The Agyapa Royalties deal, designed to generate funds through mineral royalties for crucial infrastructure projects, was suspended by President Akufo-Addo following opposition from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and civil society organizations.
Source: ghanaweb.live
