In a press conference organised in Parliament, the Minority caucus has indicated that the new Africa and Middle East Resources Investment Group LLC (AMERI) agreement with Mytilineos International as a third party is full of inflated and contrived miscellaneous items geared towards an agenda to create, loot and share the spoils of the agreement.
Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu, Mr. John Jinapor, who delivered the statement on behalf of the minority stated that the novated agreement offers overly generous Rate of Return (RoR) of 68 percent as against 17 percent in the original AMERI agreement validated by PricewaterhouseCoopers (pwc) in their value for money report on the original AMERI deal, representing 370 percent improvement in the financial returns to Mytilineos.
Mr. Jinapor stated that the Minority in Parliament sees an attempt by President Akufo-Addo to introduce a third party, Mytilineos International Trading Company to assume ownership of the power plant at a proposed capacity charge of 3.8052 cents kilowatt per hour for an extended 15-year period at a cost of US$1.035 billion.
He revealed that the government is left with just two and half years to take complete ownership of the power plant but the new deal will nullify the years left.
Mr. Jinapor in his presentation reiterated that “there is an attempt by this government to stampede Parliament into approving this poorly negotiated agreement under a certificate of urgency”.
In his delivery, Mr. Jinapor alleged that the minority is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the President is deeply involved in the new deal.
“The president spearheaded the generous deal to a third party when Ghana could own the plant and derive all the benefits that comes with it in about two and half years time “, he added
Mr. jinapor again explained that the current agreement has a tenure of 5 years with a total payment of US$10 million and the government is not required to make any upfront payments rather, an amortisation schedule of monthly payments over a 5-year period to defray the commitment after which the ownership is handed over to the government with no additional cost.
He further stated that the introduction of a third party into the agreement is a breach of Section 33 of the Public Financial Management Act 2016 (Act 921) and the agreement thereof was not backed by a legal opinion from the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice.
Background to the AMERI agreement
The Government of Ghana signed a deal with Africa and Middle East Resources Investment Group LLC (AMERI) Energy to supply 10 TM2500+ power to produce 250 Megawatts of electricity. This agreement was signed under an unbearable power crisis in the country.
Under the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer Agreement signed on February 10, 2018, AMERI had the sole responsibility to source funding, construct the plant, install all auxiliary services as well as operate the plant for a maximum period of five years.
The agreement had a deferred payment of US$10 million to be amortised over the five-year period after which the entire plant shall revert to the government at no additional cost.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
