A group of civil society organisations (CSOs) has asked the government of Ghana to suspend the establishment of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Agyapa Royalties Limited, until all documents relating to its establishment and its owners have been disclosed.

Development Diaries understands that the Agyapa Royalties Limited was established by the government of Ghana though the Minerals Income Investment Fund to manage the country’s mineral royalties.

The CSOs working on extractive, anti-corruption and good governance said in a statement that the policy was being implemented in an opaque manner.

‘This approach rather raises moral and governance questions. The assumption that once everything goes through parliament it is above board and represents the interest of all Ghanaians is deceptive and turns democracy on its head’, spokesperson for the CSOs, Dr Steve Manteaw, said.

‘It makes the elected the only relevant stakeholders in policy-making’.

He said that while the intention of the government might be genuine and aimed at optimising the benefits of gold royalties to the country, all stakeholders ought to have been consulted before the establishment of the SPV.

Manteaw stated that the recent amendment of the MIIF Act created more suspicion, faulting the inclusion of clauses that lifted the SPV, Agyapa Royalties, above Ghanaian tax laws, and waived Ghana’s sovereign immunity.

Some of the CSOs that signed the statement were the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the Centre for Extractives and Development Africa (CEDA), the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), and Open Licensing Monitoring Group, the Citizen’s Movement against Corruption (CMAC), the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (CSPOG), Penplusbyte and Oil Watch Ghana.

Source: Graphic Online

Photo source: Djigiarov