News:
April 3, 2017
NDC Members of Parliament serving on the Mines and Energy Committee have dismissed allegations of fraud in the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) contract agreement between the Government of Ghana and Africa & Middle East Resources Investment (AMERI) Group LLC.
According to the group, the Addison Committee’s report does not truly reflect the details of the said agreement, stressing that the validity of the Committee’s report is even questionable.
MP for Pru, Dr. Kwabena Donkor under whose care as Minister for Power, the AMERI deal was sealed, told journalists, Monday, that deal was the best ever the country has contracted looking at the urgency of which the power plant was supplied and the cheapest tariff (tariff for AMERI is levelized at US$0.1146 per kilowatt hour) Ghanaians are enjoying under the deal.
The Philip Addison Committee had claimed in its report (page 15(h) that there was no legal opinion from the Attorney General’s Department and further recommended in page 16 that “In the event that AMERI Energy refuses to come to the negotiations table, Government of Ghana should repudiate the Agreement on the grounds of fraud.”
That notwithstanding, the Committee on page 13 of its report alleged that AMERI Energy is making a profit in excess of US$1.5million, and therefore wondered whether a value for money audit was conducted before the agreement was sealed.
However, Dr. Donkor in rebuttal said the report clearly shows that the Addison Committee did understand the issues of the said contract.
According to him, the Attorney General’s Department was strongly represented at all times during the negotiations whith the Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice witnessing the final agreement.
The agreement, he added, also received Cabinet approval before it was sent to Parliament for consideration and subsequent approval.
“It is important to ask this question – who should bear the allegation of fraud? The Agreement went through Cabinet. The Committee on Mines and Energy recommended by consensus to the Plenary and was passed by Parliament. Was Parliament party to this fraud? Is the plant not running and operational? Does it not have the cheapest tariff of all the thermal plants in the country? So, there was no fraud. The Committee cannot use relationship between the developer and its contractors – it is none of the business of the government,” he asserted.