Anti-graft campaigner, Vitus Azeem has said the Agyapa Royalties Agreement must be completely withdrawn in order to avert further embarrassment to the government.

This comes after President Akufo-Addo instructed the Finance Minister to return the Agyapa Royalties Agreement to Parliament for a review after the Office of the Special Prosecutor forwarded its Corruption Risk Assessment report on the deal to him.

During an interview on JoyNews' AM Show, the anti-graft campaigner stated that in view of the concerns raised by the Minority in Parliament, Civil Society organisations and other well-meaning Ghanaians, it would be best for the deal to be completely withdrawn and not merely returned to Parliament.

“If I had the chance to advise the president, I would suggest that he should avoid further embarrassment to his government by sending the matter back to parliament, he should just withdraw it,” he said.

"Because it is not just what the Special Prosecutor has come out with; there were already concerns about this whole deal by civil society, by the minority and some other well-meaning Ghanaians”.

From the Special Prosecutor's findings, the selection and appointment of advisors for the agreement did not meet the “fundamentals of probity, transparency and accountability.”

He also alleged that all the various officials who took part in the processes leading to the approval of the deal by Parliament flouted several laws with impunity.

Vitus Azeem, therefore, does not believe that referring the document back to parliament will help address the concerns with the deal.

"Your [President Akufo-Addo] own Attorney General initially advised against this transaction, and you are sending it back to Parliament; the same parliament that did a bad job and you are sending it back to them because you have a comfortable majority in parliament. What do you expect from parliament,” he questioned.

"It is not just that the whole issue is not right, but the fact that the processes that it went through smelt of something wrong".

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