Former Power Minister Dr Kwabena Donkor has questioned the objectivity of analysis made by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) with regards to Government of Ghana’s deal with AMERI Energy, adding that they are operatives of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and not politically neutral.
Dr Donkor had earlier mounted a strong defence of the deal signed between AMERI Energy and the erstwhile John Mahama administration to tackle the power crisis at the time.
According to him, the deal, which was approved by parliament and cabinet, was the best for the country.
His comment was in reaction to revelations by a 17-member Philip Addison committee, tasked by Mr Agyarko to look into the agreement, that the deal was inflated by $150million by the Mahama administration.
The deal was for the supply of gas turbines to Ghana, which were to provide additional power to the national grid to ease the biting load shedding exercise that plagued the country at the time.
The committee has recommended to the government to recall owners of the Dubai-based company for renegotiation and that if the company refuses to honour the invitation for re-negotiation, the government should renounce the agreement on grounds of fraud.
However, Acting Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye, in a separate interview insisted that the country was losing millions of dollars, hence dismissed claims the deal was the cheapest the government could get.
Reacting to the comments by ACEP, Dr Kwabena Donkor, in an interview on Joy TV’s AM Show on Tuesday, March 4, said the energy think tank’s analyses, especially with respect to the AMERI deal, are not credible
“As for ACEP I seriously have always doubted their neutrality, particularly in this transaction,” he said.
Dr Donkor added: “At that point, and history has proven us right, at the time the Executive Director was a known NPP member operative and today he is a Deputy Minister. The other director was also a regional chairman of NPP; today he is a minister of lands and forestry. So, the political neutrality of ACEP is questionable”.
He was of the view that the Akufo-Addo government could go to court to challenge the $510million AMERI power deal if, indeed, it can prove allegations of fraud allegedly detected by the committee constituted to review the contract.
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