A New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart, Gabby Otchere Darko, has asserted that the government’s Agyapa deal was free of corruption and corruption-related activities.
According to him, it is demoralizing and unfounded allegations of some Civil Society organizations(CSOs) that a network of connected individuals was stealing Ghana’s gold reserves.
He, therefore, finds the silence of Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative, and the CSOs who pursued the Agyapa case before the West Africa regional court in Abuja, Nigeria, interesting.
Taking to Twitter, Mr Otchere-Darko maintained that despite the controversies the deal generated, it was lawful and sought to properly increase the use of Ghana’s gold resources.
I wonder why Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative and the CSOs who went to an international court over Agyapa have been quiet since July after their case was dismissed on all fronts. But, I thank them for that move. It is good for our democracy. And, I will urge… pic.twitter.com/g1ru0dDB4j
— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) August 15, 2023
His comment is in reaction to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice’s (CCJ) decision to throw out a suit against the government challenging the propriety of a Gold royalty Monetisation Transaction arrangement, widely known as the Agyapa deal.
Three anti-corruption groups; Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) dragged the government to the CCJ in December 2020, seeking an order to halt the Agyapa deal.
The applicants argued that the Agyapa transaction infringed Ghanaians’ rights under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights to permanent sovereignty over the nation’s natural resources by being dominated by “politically exposed persons,” and by doing so, it also breached international law.
The court, during sittingin Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, upheld the government’s defense and dismissed the claims of the three civil society organizations.
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