Political analyst, Jonathan Asante has said the opposition NDC’s charge to push that the state to collect undeserved monies paid in the Agyapa royalties deal positions them as a nationalistic party.
General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who addressed the press earlier this week said the deal, which is a by-product of the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act passed in Parliament in 2018 and established the Fund to manage the equity interests of Ghana’s mining companies and receive royalties on behalf of the government, was surrounded by “alarming proportions of corruption, unprecedented nepotism and grand thievery”.
Asiedu Nketiah said “billions of cedis have been paid to companies like Databank, which is owned by the President’s cousin and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta; African Legal Associates, which is owned by another cousin of President Akufo Addo, Gabby Otchere Darko, and their foreign partners” in the deal and described it as illegal.
The party has, therefore, given the government a week to retrieve the monies being paid to President Akufo-Addo’s cousins and other family members at the centre of the deal or face their wrath, hinting of a massive protest on the streets of Accra.
But speaking on Dwaboase on Power FM Thursday morning Mr Asante explained the advocacyof the NDC, when sustained, will inure to the benefit of the party as many floating voters in the country are yearning for a leadership that will salvage the current mess created by the Akufo-Addo administration.
“Ghanaians are livid about the series of corruption that have engulfed this government…If the NDC is able to pursue this cause, Ghanaians will believe in them as a party that can be in charge when voted to power,” the political analyst told host Kwame Minkah.
Jonathan Asante bemoaned the silence of the President and noted that just as Akufo-Addo criticised the then Mahama-led government over some corruption scandals and promised to be different when voted to power, he expected him to make corruption a high risk venture in his government than what is being witnessed in the country.
“Many are the Ghanaians, especially the flaoting voters, are disappointed in this government and they are looking forward to a serious opposition that will show leadership in these times,” Mr Asante added.
Source: Ghana|Myxyzonline.com