The Deputy Finance Minister has mounted a strong defence over the selection of Kofi Osafo Maafo, son of the Senior Minister as the consultant and prospective CEO of the Agyapa Minerals Royalties Limited.

Charles Adu Boahene at a press briefing Thursday, stressed that Mr Kofi Maafo was shortlisted among the six Ghanaians who could fill the position.

However, he said Yaw Osafo Maafo's son ticked most of the requirement boxes to earn the position.

“His background was a bright fit, he happened to have been in the Asset Management Business as an Equity Research Analyst covering gold, mining and energy stocks in London and worked for some of the biggest asset and investment firms that we know.

"And in that position, not only that he had the technical knowledge of mining, he also has the financial knowledge. And most importantly, because he interacted with investors on a daily basis, he had a good appreciation of what investors will be looking for in purchasing and accessing this commodity,” he stated.

He added, “And going forward, in managing a company, he would have a nose for the right type of investments to make and the conditions around in which he has to make them which is a very key part of this whole story.

“So that was the reason, it just happens to be a coincidence that he happens to be a relative of somebody in government. So it was more of finding the right person for the job.”

Explaining the selection process, the Deputy Minister said government involved a California-based headhunting firm, Kornferry to identify and shortlist a candidate for the CEO position of Agyapa and for the board globally.

He noted that although, they had engaged the international company, they informed Kornferry that they wanted well-qualified Ghanaians for both CEO and Board Chairman positions.

“There were 30 candidates that were eventually shortlisted and brought to us of that six were Ghanaians and Kofi happened to be one of the six. He also happened to be working by then with SSNIT, so we then said he was a good prospect.

“But until that the time we get to a listing stage, we would engage him as a consultant. And then be able to exactly see if he will bring the right value to the table and was capable enough to do the job,” he stated.

Mr Adu Boahene also indicated that the Kofi Osafo Maafo was chosen amongst the others because he stood in a better position than the others who just had background in mining.

“But there were other Ghanaians but most of them only had background in just mining. So either they had worked in the mine and had a lot of mining experience but had very little finance experience, very little equity or investment experience so that didn’t work too well.”

However, the former Deputy Energy Minister, John Jinapor on Joy FM’s Top Story later said, the Finance Ministry is spewing ‘cock and bull story’.

According to him, there is no evidence to prove that the Senior Minister’s son was selected competitively since there were no advertisement or other lawful means to diserminate a vacancy for people to apply.

“This [Finance] Ministry under this [Akufo-Addo led] government is extremely deceptive because there is a lot of opacity in this whole Agyapa deal,” he was categorical.