Minority insists $19 billion Chinese facility is loan
The Minority in Parliament has insisted that the $19 billion Chinese facility to Ghana is a loan as the country's bauxite will be used as a guarantee for it.
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The Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, rejected the claim by the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, that the Chinese investment in the Ghanaian economy was not a loan, aid or hand-out.
Dr Bawumia had explained that the country sought to leverage less than five per cent of its bauxite deposit to secure close to $20 billion from China, and indicated that the country was not borrowing.
But speaking at a press conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Iddrisu said the claim by the Vice-President that the country was not borrowing from China was untenable.
He said any financial arrangement that required the use of mineral resources as a guarantee was a loan, since the country would pay for the facility.
In the same direction, he said, the current arrangement with China required the use of bauxite as a guarantee, which confirmed that it was a loan facility, saying, "The collateral he will use will end up as borrowing."
Mr Iddrisu wondered why Parliament would be required to approve the arrangement if it was a private affair.
"Does Parliament procure loans for the private sector?" he asked.
Mr Iddrisu challenged Dr Bawumia to let the country see the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the government signed with China on the $19 billion financial arrangement.
He indicated that Ghana's economy was not big enough to absorb a loan of $19 billion.
BOST fuel contamination
Tracing the developments on the sale of the five million litres of contaminated fuel by Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Limited (BOST), Mr Iddrisu said the Minority in Parliament last week exposed the stench and blatant corruption at BOST over the contaminated fuel affair.
He said following the exposé, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), had, in an official release, confirmed the Minority's position that the two companies in the purchase of the five million litres of contaminated fuel from BOST were indeed not licensed.
"The NPA further confirmed our position that Movenpinaa Energy and Zup Oil are not licensed to undertake any commercial activity in the downstream petroleum industry. The statement went as far as confirming that the activities of these entities, therefore, infringe on section 11 of the National Petroleum Authority Act, ACT 691, 2005," he said.
The Minority Leader said the Minister of Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko, whose ministry had supervisory role over the petroleum sector subsequently issued a statement a day after the Minority's press conference on June 28, 2017 in which he promised setting up an eight-member investigative committee to look into the scandal.
"However, in a most bizarre and shameful twist, this same Energy Minister addressed a press conference yesterday July 4, 2017 claiming that even before his own committee will get to work, the BNI and the National Security have exonerated the BOST Managing Director, Mr Alfred Obeng Boateng, and absolved him of all wrongdoing. July 4, 2017 will certainly go down in history as Ghana’s day of shame!"
"This naked cover-up is an insult to Ghanaians and an affront to the laws of Ghana," he said.
Mr Iddrisu said the signs were now crystal clear that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government had no commitment to fighting corruption.
He said what the country had been treated to in that embarrassing spectacle was a new government that had arrived to dash the hopes of many Ghanaians by entrenching the canker of corruption.
"Now we know that the NPP’s approach to fighting corruption is holding press conferences to equalise as the Majority in Parliament shamelessly exhibited last week. We in the Minority will not obstruct justice – if there has been any wrongdoing by any Ghanaian, let that person be taken through due process.
Following revelations by a Member of Parliament on the Majority side alleging that the beleaguered BOST MD was a major financier of the presidential campaign of Nana Akufo-Addo and that Mr Obeng Boateng is untouchable – it is now obvious to many Ghanaians that under the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, there will be different strokes for different folks. NPP financiers who loot state coffers and engage in unbridled corruption will be left off the hook under his watch," he said.
The Minority Leader said the distasteful episode afforded Ghanaians an exclusive insight into how people came by their appointments under the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government.
"We stand by our original demands on this matter and call on all Ghanaians to stand up to this government and demand transparent and accountable governance," Mr Iddrisu said.
Off Cape Three Points oil
Mr Iddrisu said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority joined Ghanaians to celebrate as President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was expected to turn the valve to mark the commencement of commercial exploitation of oil Off Cape Three Points.
He said the project was a legacy of the NDC government under the visionary leadership of former President John Mahama.
