A former Minister for Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko, has made yet another startling revelation about the renegotiation of the terms of 250 Megawatts Ameri Power Plant by naming persons whose conduct and actions during the renegotiation formed the basis for his removal from office in 2018.
Narrating the circumstances leading to his removal from office on Kumasi-based Asanteman FM, Mr Boakye Agyarko, a former Policy Advisor for then-candidate Akufo-Addo, said when the New Patriotic Party was in opposition, one of the things they planned to do was to renegotiate the terms of the power plants contracted by the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) including the Ameri Power Plant.
Consequently, Mr Agyarko stated that an eighteen-member committee with institutional representation from the energy sector agencies was constituted and chaired by Lawyer Philip Addison and Vicky Bright.
He said the decision Cabinet took was to find a way to get Ameri Energy Group, the owners of Ameri Power Plant out of the contract and instead negotiate with Metka, a company which was operating the plant, by making the cost of the contract lesser.
He explained that the committee started the negotiations and everything was going on smoothly.
I’m the course of the negotiations, the committee members travelled to Dubai, UAE, to meet officials of Ameri Energy Group to continue the negotiation but said during one of the visits to Dubai, the officials of Ameri Energy Group became very hostile and he had to order the negotiations team to leave and return to Ghana.
Mr Boakye Agyarko continued that during the period of renegotiation of the contract with Ameri Energy Group, he was onboard an aircraft at the Kotoka International Airport to Houston, Texas, USA when he received a telephone call from Mr Gabby Asare Otchere- Darko, a cousin of President Akufo-Addo lamenting that he had been trying to reach him but he (Agyarko) was not answering his calls.
“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 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,” Mr Agyarko stated.
According to Mr Agyarko, when he returned from the trip, he went to President Akufo-Addo and told him about what ensued between him and his cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko.
He said President Akufo-Addo asked him what he thought was wrong about what Gabby has done and his response to him was 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 had violated all the Cabinet instructions and extended the contract to 20 years.”
He said President Akufo-Addo was satisfied with the explanation he gave, adding that he, however, requested him to forward the proposal by the law firm Gabby had engaged to the Chairman of the Committee and he did so.
Based on President Akufo-Addo’s instruction, Mr Agyarko said he sent the document to Lawyer Philip Addison but upon receipt of the document, he flared up because he did not understand what was happening.
Mr Agyarko revealed that a prominent person told the Committee that President Akufo-Addo did not support the renegotiation they were doing and that, Mr Agyarko said, discouraged the members of the Committee.
Continuing, Mr Agyarko said he went to Parliament for a Ministry of Energy business and while in Parliament, the Member of Parliament for South Abuakwa, Lawyer Atta Akyea warned him not to set foot in Parliament to present the Addison Committee Report.
Mr Agyarko said Atta Akyea said he would mobilise the whole House to walk him out if he set foot in Parliament.
He said unknown to him, Mr Atta Akyea had already prepared the ground and so when he went to meet the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy and Finance, the MPs were very hostile and did not even offer him a seat.
Mr Agyarko explained that President Akufo-Addo called the speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Aaron Ocquaye, and Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, the Majority Leader, at the time Parliament was about to rise to make sure that the Ameri Power Plant Renegotiated Agreement was passed before the House rose for recession.
He said when he arrived at Parliament, the Speaker told him that the mood in Parliament was not favourable so instead of seeking Parliamentary approval, they should go by Executive Approval. Given that, he called Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia since President Akufo-Addo was out of the country.
He stated that the Vice President was at an event in Tamale and could not respond but the information was relayed to him and requested that the document be sent to him at home.
Mr Agyarko said he sent four people led by one Michael Opam but they did not meet the Vice President at home. He said a lady who received them wanted them to leave the document, a request he said his messengers declined and so they returned the document.
Mr Agyarko said the four people went to Dr Bawumia’s home for the second time and when they met him, they left the document with him to append his signature.
Surprisingly, Mr Agyarko revealed that when they went back for the document, they noticed that Lawyer Nana Bediatuo Asante, Executive Secretary of President Akufo-Addo, had signed the document instead of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
When energynewsafrica.com reached him on WhatsApp for his response to the claims by Mr Boakye Agyarko, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko stated that he was not interested in commenting on the issue
Background
The Ameri Power Plant was procured during the John Mahama administration for US$510 million to increase the country’s energy capacity to meet the country’s energy demand.
The agreement was signed in February 2015 under Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) after five years.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com