$12M Agyapa Spendings Could Have Paid For Treatment Of Kidney Patients- NDC
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asserted that the US$12 million the government spent on the botched Agyapa Royalties Deal was enough to cater for the treatment of kidney patients in the country.
The opposition party notes that the amount could have saved the lives of the 19 patients who died last year as a result of the closure of the Renal Unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to outpatients for a couple of months due to a GHC4 million debt it incurred from medical consumables.
At their Moment of Truth session on February 19, the National Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, outlined six projects he deemed would have been prudent to use US$12 million for.
“This money could have sufficed to pay the cost of several months of treatment for all kidney patients in Ghana, nineteen (19) of whom died painfully, following the shameful closure of the Renal Dialysis Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for several months last year, over government’s GHS4 million indebtedness.
“This colossal amount of money could have been used to provide childhood vaccines to protect innocent babies from dying of childhood killer diseases due to a shortage of essential vaccines.”
Additionally, he said the money could have been used to procure textbooks for basic school children; settle the allowances of National Service Personnel in Ghana who have not been paid for four months now; create thousands of jobs for NABCO beneficiaries who have been sent home after they were promised permanent employment and provide potable drinking water, or several CHIP compounds or schools for thousands of Ghanaians in deprived communities of the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) on the Royalties deal, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng disclosed to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, the report of the Auditor-General on Public Boards, Corporations and other Statutory Bodies for the period ended December 31, 2022, over the weekend that US$12 million was pumped into the deal which has since been suspended after public outcry.
According to him, the amount was spent on setting up the “Agyapa” Royalties vehicle, the payment of consultancy fees, the rental of office space and the processes leading to the Initial Public Offering towards the listing of “Agyapa” Royalties on the London Stock Exchange.
