The Minority Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembele, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, has reacted to allegations by the former Minister of Energy, Boakye Akyarko, on incidents that transpired during the re-negotiation of the 250 Megawatts Ameri Power Plant when he was the minister.
According to him, the revelations by Boakye Agyarko confirm the view of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government is notoriously corrupt.
In a post shared on Twitter, the Ellembele legislator said that the former energy minister’s revelations that the nephew of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, set aside a committee set by the cabinet to negotiate the Ameri deal show the power he has in the government.
“This jaw-dropping revelation is a further affirmation of the long-held view of the NDC Minority in Parliament that the dubious and needless deal that was championed by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government soon after coming into office was nothing but a fraudulent scheme to shortchange the Ghanaian people.
“In the said interview, Mr. Boakye Agyarko lifted the veil over a tussle between himself and the nephew of President Akufo-Addo, Gabby Otchere Darko over who had the legitimate right and authority to champion the shady AMERI renegotiated deal that was going to witness elements in the Akufo-Addo government cream millions of dollars off the poor Ghanaian taxpayer.
“While the former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko preferred to renegotiate with METKA, Gabby Otchere who essentially was acting for and on behalf of the family and friends cabal in government, chose to negotiate with AMERI,” parts of the tweet read.
The MP added that the Ameri deal, Ghana got in the renegotiation means that the country has been short-changed about $1 billion.
“The outcome of this corrupt renegotiated deal effectively sought to extend the tenure of the original AMERI deal from 5 years to 10 years at a cost of $1 billion, meaning that the duration of the original contract which would have seen the plant revert fully to Ghana after 5 years, was now being extended to 10 years at a padded additional cost of $1 billion to the Ghanaian taxpayer,” parts of the tweet read.
Background:
New Patriotic Party Flagbearer hopeful, Boakye Agyarko, reportedly narrated some alleged incidents that transpired during the re-negotiation of the 250 Megawatts Ameri Power Plant when he was the Minister for Energy.
According to a news report by energynewsafrica.com, Boakye Agyarko in an interview on Kumasi-based Asanteman FM, alleged that New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, re-negotiated the Ameri deal without the consent of the committee set up by the government to work on the deal.
He added that when he confronted Gabby on the matter, he told him to be quiet because President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was already in the know of the steps he (Gabby) had taken.
He narrated that he was on a flight to the United States of America when Gabby called him, lamenting about not being able to reach him.
“I told him I was onboard a flight travelling. Then he (Gabby) told me that he was sending me a document via email so I should check.
“When I arrived safely and went to my hotel room, I opened my email address and saw the document. To my surprise, Gabby had, on the blind side of the Committee set up and approved by the President to renegotiate with Ameri Energy Group, contracted a law firm to engage Ameri Energy Group and completed their negotiation and recommended a certain company to operate the Ameri Power Plant and extended the contract to 20 years.
“I sent Gabby a mail and asked him what authority he had to do that. And I told him Cabinet has given specific instructions to follow and his response was what makes me think that my Boss (President Akufo-Addo) doesn’t know about what he has done…so I kept quiet,” he is quoted to have said by energynewsafrica.com.
The former energy minister said that when he spoke to President Akufo-Addo on the matter, the president asked him whether there was something wrong with what Gabby did.
Boakye Agyarko said that he told the president that, “the authority to renegotiate the terms of the Ameri Power Plant doesn’t lie in the hands of Gabby and that the proposal the firm he contracted made had violated all the Cabinet instructions and extended the contract to 20 years.”
Agyarko added that Akufo-Addo agreed with his reasoning but went ahead and asked him to forward the deal Gabby had negotiated to the committee that was set up to renegotiate the deal.
