As the Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, has indicated that processes were underway to thoroughly probe circumstances that led to the $170 million-dollar judgment debt after the cancellation of the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) emergency power deal, the National Democratic Congress has said it is negligence, incompetence and recklessness of the Government.
The state is to pay a $170 million judgment debt as a result of cancellation of the agreement. The agreement between the government and GPGC, an independent power producer, was terminated in 2018.
Speaking at a press conference at the party’s head office in Accra, the party’s National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi said a future NDC government will bring to book all individuals whose actions have caused the country to pay a $170 million judgement debt.
Meanwhile, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), has petitioned the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), to formally probe the termination of the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) emergency power deal.
ASEPA wants the CID to formally probe some government officials including the Attorney General for what they term as “conspiracy to defraud the state and negligence”.
The Executive Director of ASEPA, Mensah Thompson, in an interview, said “we want the Police to investigate these government officials on two grounds. The first is a conspiracy to defraud the state to the tune of $170 million as well as criminal negligence.”
In February 2015, the GPGC entered into negotiations with the Government of Ghana for the provision of a fast-track power generation solution.
This was to see the relocation of the GPGC Equipment from Italy to Ghana, to alleviate Ghana’s then-ongoing power shortage crisis. In June 2015, Government and GPGC signed the power agreement.
In April 2017, a committee set up by the Ministry of Energy at the direction of the President’s Office issued a final draft report. The committee set forth for consideration the option of termination of the agreement at an estimated cost of $18 million rather than the payment of an excess capacity charge of $24.9 million per annum over the contract period of 4 years.
In its Summary of Proposed Modification to PPAs of Committed Projects, the Committee noted that the GPGC Project was an:
“Emergency Plant with a 5-year PPA used plant (not new) and high tariff. Major equipment has arrived at the Tema port awaiting tax exemption to clear.”
The report noted that based on the 2018-2020 demand-supply capacity balance and the tariff rank of this project, the full capacity of this project will be excess and result in an estimated total cost of $115.48 Million within the duration of the PPA. It, therefore, recommended that the actual development cost of the project to date should be verified and used as a guide in negotiations for termination.
In August 2017, Attorney General Gloria Akuffo issued an opinion on the agreement in response to a cabinet directive. She noted
“… It has become necessary to review the implementation of the PPAs; because should all of them be implemented as originally scheduled, it would result in the production of excess energy with its attendant cost, which would worsen the financial situation of the power sector. A review would therefore help to cut back on losses that would be incurred.”
The Attorney-General noted, too, that the GPGC Project would result in costs of $115,480,000, if implemented, with its attendant high tariff. Based on her understanding of the position, the Attorney-General considered that GPGC’s failure to obtain a licence from the Energy Commission left it with no capacity to enter into a PPA.
Source; mybrytfmonline.com/ Kofi Atakora
