Ghana is not safe with this level of propaganda – Atta Akyea tells NDC

The Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Samuel Atta Akyea, has advised the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) not to make divisive statements in its pursuit of political power.

His comment is in response to the NDC’s National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi who has vowed that a future NDC administration will take legal action against government officials and individuals implicated in the $12 million expenditure on the suspended Gold Royalties Monetisation Transaction, also known as the Agyapa deal.

According to Mr Akyea, although the opposition is determined to win the election, it should refrain from making statements that could jeopardise the peace and security of the country.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on February 19, he said, “Bear in mind that in this feverish pitch to succeed Akufo-Addo, NDC should not sort of make a fetish of every issue as if everything is criminal.

“This nation is not safe with this level of propaganda and press conferences are not just conclusive evidence of culpability and criminality as it were. I want to stress also let’s be careful. If there is a poor error of judgment in the investment in Agyapa, it will not be tantamount to criminality.

Agyapa deal was passed using the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act, 2018 (MIIF Act 978) with the primary aim of harnessing the nation’s mineral resources for the benefit of its citizens while ensuring sustainable receipt of royalties from gold mining companies.

The Agyapa royalties deal, which aimed to generate funds for crucial infrastructure projects through mineral royalties, was halted by President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2021 following concerns raised by civil society groups and the main opposition.

On the same show, Mr Gyamfi insisted that the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s investigation proved that the Agyapa deal was not beneficial to the state which led to its suspension.

“If the Special prosecutor was not a court and the President does not agree with the position of the Special Prosecutor, why suspend the bill?”

But Mr Atta Akyea argued that it would be best for the NDC to take the matter to court rather than assume people were guilty.

“If you convert the thinking of NDC to the decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, we know what the law is like.

“The accused persons will have a right to stand, they present the evidence and the rest of it, and it will culminate in a decision. If we don’t go this route and we still believe that in the name of propaganda, let’s turn the laws of Ghana upside down and in the convenience of a one-sided press conference let’s denigrate others, I am afraid that is not democracy, that is propaganda,” he added.

Mr Akyea stressed that if it was a criminal matter, time would not cancel out a criminal case.