The Lands Minister-designate, Samuel Abu Jinapor has mounted a strong defence for the controversial Agyapa Minerals Royalties deal.

Although the deal has now been suspended, the Damango MP during his vetting on Wednesday stressed that proceeds from the agreement would have significantly improved the local mining industry.

He told Parliament's Appointments Committee that, “The conceptual underpinnings of the creation of the Agyapa deal is very much in line with Section 41 of the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act 2018 (Act 978).

"Which talks about the functions of the Fund which is to leverage incomes of our gold mining for purposes of supporting mining operations in Ghana.”

“And which can ultimately cure this lacuna of indigenous Ghanaian enterprises that are not participating in large scale mining in Ghana,” he added.

The former Deputy Chief of Staff further noted that the deal is 100 per cent government-owned through the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and not any group of persons.

He dispelled claims that Agyapa Royalties agreement is to benefit a selected few, particularly, the elite.

“Mr Chairman, it will be totally illegal and contrary to the teaching of the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act 2018 (Act 978) particularly Section 41. If an individual owned even a share of Agyapa,” he emphasized.

But commenting on the issue, the Ranking Member of the Appointments Committee, Haruna Iddrisu noted his disagreement with the nominee.

According to the Tamale South MP, per what was presented before Parliament, government will own only 51 per cent of the shares, thus, the Damango MP might have been misinformed.

“I entirely disagree with you when you were responding to the Deputy leader and you must check your brief properly on Agyapa.

"When the matter came before Parliament, there was a relationship agreement and what you refer to as 100 per cent, it is not the case.

“So perhaps, you may have your brief, but your brief may not be as accurate as presented to us [Parliament] on Friday, August 14, 2020," he said.