The Precious Minerals Marketing Company has allayed the fears of Ghanaians that the government’s gold-for-oil deal is a revision of the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal.
According to the Managing Director, Nana Akwasi Awuah, such claims are part of the numerous misinformation the deal has been fraught with and must be disregarded.
Nana Akwasi said these on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem with the admission that the deal broker, Alphastream was the same that handled the controversial Agyapa deal.
He, however, cautioned the fact that the Agyapa deal failed doesn’t mean the gold for oil will also fail, adding the first consignment of 40,000 tonnes which has come into Ghana proves they are on course.
“Alpha stream was the deal broker for Agyapa and has been brought for the oil for gold but they were proposed by the international oil company. This is a reputed company in UAE and they are just doing their jobs and the fact that they failed the first time doesn’t mean they should just fold their hands,” he defended.
The Gold for Oil (G4O) Programme is an initiative of the Government of Ghana to use the existing Bank of Ghana (BoG) Domestic Gold Purchase (DGP) Programme to support the import of petroleum products into Ghana.
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The sole objective is to use additional foreign exchange resources from the BoG’s DGP programme to provide foreign currency for the importation of petroleum products for the country which currently stands at about USD350 million per month.
Alphastream, with primary investors in a UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund, brands itself as a multi-commodity royalty streaming company.
Meanwhile, former President John Mahama has stated that the deal is currently shrouded in complete secrecy with only government officials who are involved in the transaction knowing the details.