Ghana lost GHC2 billion annually to erratic power supply during the four-year tenure of President John Mahama, the Minority in Parliament has revealed, adding that to stem the tide of dumsor, the government at the time saw it prudent to sign the $510million power deal with Dubai-based Ameri Energy.
A member of the Minority’s Energy Committee, Adam Mutawakilu, who served as the Vice Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee which analysed the Ameri deal before its passage, told journalists at a press conference in Accra on Monday, 3 April that the Built Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) deal was “the best” for Ghana.
“I can vouch that we perused it very well, considering the outright purchase, the rental and the BOOT [options] and I can tell you this is the best for Ghana and we didn’t just look at it per the price alone, we investigated to find out how much Ghana losing yearly as a result of dumsor and we came to the conclusion that Ghana was losing about GHS2b (almost $450m), so, while you are analysing the agreement before you, you must have at the back of the mind what Ghana is losing.
“Every month, Ghana was losing about GHS160m so we did all this and established that it was good and that is why the committee by consensus presented it to parliament and it was approved and when this issue came up, parliament stated their position clearly that the deal was a good deal for mother Ghana and we should all embrace it,” Mr Mutawakilu said.
In the view of the Minority, the Akufo-Addo government is just being up to no good with its claim of fraud in connection with the deal.
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