Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has found himself in hot waters as the Senior Staff Association of Ghana National Gas Company is chasing him for allegedly approving a deal for a private energy firm, Genser Energy, to establish a gas processing plant in the Western Region to compete with the state-owned gas company.
The Minister’s alleged decision, according to the Senior Staff Association of Ghana Gas, amounts to stabbing President Akufo-Addo in the back as the President, last year, tasked Ghana Gas, the West African nation’s national gas aggregator, to establish a second gas processing plant to process more gas for electricity generation and domestic consumption.
In June 2021, the CEO of Ghana Gas, Dr Benjamin K.D. Asante announced that the company was going to start the construction of an additional gas processing plant to increase the capacity of their gas processing plant from 150mmscfd to 240mmscfd.
The company has since started the processes for the construction of the second gas processing plant.
However, a statement issued by the Senior Staff Association of Ghana Gas on Monday, 9th January 2023, revealed that the Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has approved a deal for Genser to establish a gas processing plant against President Akufo-Addo’s plan.
The workers expressed unhappiness about how the Minister is handling the issue of the concurrent existence of Genser Energy Ghana Limited’s Gas Conditioning Plant and Ghana Gas’ Gas Processing Plant Train 2.
According to them, Ghana Gas had the backing of former Ministers for its indigenisation agenda and wondered why the Minister is seeking to cripple the company.
The workers argued that Ghana Gas is 100 per cent owned by the state while Genser is known to have about 90 per cent of its shares owned by foreigners.
They stated that the company repatriates over 80 per cent of its revenue to South Africa.
“It baffles the mind of workers of Ghana Gas for any Minister of State to do the bidding of Genser at the expense of a state-owned company,” the workers said in the statement signed by Richmond Alamu, Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Ghana Gas.
“Having analysed the issues and information gathered from the Ministry of Energy, the Senior Staff Association of Ghana Gas is convinced that the sector Minister is bent on pushing this Genser deal despite several calls from sister companies including VRA, GRIDCO and ECG (whose operations have also been taken over in the mining sector in the west by Genser) that this Genser deal will gradually collapse state-owned companies. Again, the workers of Ghana Gas feel betrayed by the Energy Minister because in 2020, during the covid 19 pandemic and months before the elections, the then Minister, through the board and management of Ghana Gas, challenged the workers to work more than 200 per cent of their normal working hours through risky moments to ensure continuous availability of power despite the health risk those moments posed.
They, thereby, consider the sector Minister’s current posturing as a stab in the back given all the efforts being made by Ghana Gas to support the sector,” they said.
Concluding, the workers called on the Presidency to intervene, since the President’s dream of having a second Gas Processing Plant is on the line.
When contacted by the energynewsafrica.com, via telephone, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who is currently out of the country, said, “Discount the story.”
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the communication department of the Ministry has denied claims by the Senior Staff Association of Ghana Gas.
The Ministry stated that the sector Minister has not signed any contract with Genser Energy.
The Ministry accused the CEO of Ghana Gas of misleading the company’s Senior Staff Association.
This portal has attempted to reach the CEO of Ghana Gas for his comments but it has not been successful.
The Ministry’s response, according to sources, has angered staff of Ghana Gas who are privy to the deal.
Some civil society groups have also expressed worry about the issue.
It would be recalled that last year, the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and IMANI Africa raised concerns about how the Minister approved a request by GNPC to sell gas to Genser Energy cheaply.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy, according to the Ranking Member, John Abdulai Jinapor, had concluded an investigation into that transaction but the report is yet to be put before the Chamber.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
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