The government’s decision to put on hold the launch of the Initial Public Offer (IPO) for the Agyapa Royalties agreement is good for Ghana, Dr Steve Manteaw, Chairman of the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas has said.

The government on Monday, October 5 said the decision follows moves by the Special Prosecutor (SP) to investigate the move after the Minority and some other persons raised corruption-related issues with it.

A letter signed by Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahen, on Monday, October 5 said: “The Ministry does not intend to proceed with the IPO ahead of the results of the corruption risk assessment by your Office.

“This was prior to your office’s request for information and production of document.”

The letter added: “Kindly note that the document was prepared about two months ago by the transaction advisors to update the Minister on the progress of the transaction. The timing expressed in the document was the intention of the transaction advisors at that time and to launch the IPO by the end of September 2020 to be completed by the end of the year.”

Speaking in an interview with TV3’s Roland Walker on News 360 Monday, October 5, Dr Manteaw said the suspension does not mean that the civil society groups that objected will stop their campaign for a better deal for Ghana.

“The suspension of the transaction is good for Ghana [and] it affords us the opportunity to engage and improve what is on offer in terms of optimizing the returns from the minerals

“We are still continuing with our campaign. We think Ghanaians need to be educated on this whole thing.

“Other counties have done this deal before so there is the need to pick lessons from them and avoid pitfalls if there is any.”