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Spokesperson for the Alliance of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working on extractives, anti-corruption and good governance, Dr Steve Manteaw has indicated lack of transparency and accountability as the major problem associated with the Agyapa Royalties deal.

According to him, the law backing the operations of the Agyapa Royalties is not good as it does not come with transparency, accountability and public oversight arrangement unlike the law governing the Petroleum Revenue Management Act.

To him, it is a dent on the image of Akufo-Addo government that believes in participatory democracy.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Dr Steve Manteaw insisted that the Alliance of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) cannot come to terms with the fact that there is no Advisory Committee for the Agyapa Royalties as compared to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act.

“ . . if you come to Petroleum Sector, we have created what we call Investment Advisory Committee with the mandate to advice on any investment the Petroleum Sector wants to engage in," he said.

Explaining the reason why the Petroleum Law forbids certain type of investment, Dr Manteaw said that the country wants to avoid any investment which is raffle in nature.

“ . . if you look at the Petroleum Sector, we have a similar fund called Heritage Fund and Stabilization Fund which we invest outside for profit to develop our nation, and with the Petroleum Sector the law stipulates the kind of investment we do and the one we cannot do.

“But with the Mineral Income Investment Act and its new birth Agyapa Royalties, the law does not stipulate the kind of investment they can do and cannot do. This means that they can engage in any kind of investment which can cause the nation many fortunes,” he explained.

He further bemoaned that the amendment of the law on Agyapa Royalties, giving monopoly to borrow from anywhere in whatever currency to do whatever it likes without coming for permission from anyone including Parliament makes the deal suspicious.

He reiterated that the amendment is a means to deny Parliament a direct oversight control over the operations of Agyapa Royalties; thus, it makes the deal not transparent and defeat the essence of the company if the representatives of Ghanaians cannot have control over the activities of Agyapa Royalties.

“This is the entire country's money and the Parliament that represents the entire Ghanaians cannot have control over the activities of Agyapa Company, then what is the essence of the Agyapa Company?”

“Our major problem with Agyapa Company is lack of transparency. If you look at the way some people have been selected to work on the deal, it is not encouraging, especially for a government that we know to understand participatory democracy,” he stated.