Deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, has denied assertions by members of the ruling New Patriotic Party that seem to suggest that Ghana Gold Company is similar to Agyapa Royalties Limited.
The Atta-Mills administration, under the Finance Ministry in 2011, is said to have presented to parliament the Ghana Gold Company – also a Special Purpose Vehicle like Agyapa Royalties – to hold and monetise Ghana’s gold reserves.
“Currently, Ghana has shares and carried interest in a number of mining companies that enable [the] government to receive significant cash flows from royalties and dividends. The current increases in gold prices, increased demand for gold exposure by investors, and the appreciation in the equity interests in the gold-mining companies present a unique opportunity for the government to consider the monetisation of all or portions of its gold interests to deliver a significant capital sum to support the nation’s growth and development,” he said.
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But, speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem Wednesday morning, the Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam, said the Ghana Gold Company unlike Agyapa Royalties was to be solely Ghanaian-owned, registered and located in Ghana and also listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
He said: “The Ghana Gold Company was just an intent and was later abandoned because we later realised it was not in the interest of Ghanaians and Parliament disapproved it.”