NDC government’s power agreement with GPGC was needless, says Godfred Dame
The Attorney General says that those who signed the GPGC emergency power purchase agreement will have to answer certain questions
Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, has said the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s power purchase agreement with Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) was needless.
Speaking with Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (23 June), Yeboah Dame said those who signed the power purchase agreement will have to answer questions.
“Those who committed this agreement, with all respect, have to answer certain questions, because first and foremost the agreement was entered into in circumstances where there was no need for such an agreement,” he said.
Dame said, “And I say so on account of the report of the [energy] committee set up in the NDC time itself …”
Listen to the audio clip below:
The power purchase agreement was signed in 2015 by the NDC government at the peak of the power crisis under the Mahama-led government.
Background
In January 2021 the International Court of Arbitration awarded costs of US$134 million and interest of $30 million against the Government of Ghana over its cancellation of an emergency power agreement with GPGC Ltd.
The contract was cancelled during the tenure of the former energy minister Boakye Agyarko, one of several arrangements scrapped by the NPP on the basis that Ghana did not need the power agreements.
The ruling by the International Court of Arbitration ordered the Government to Ghana to pay to “GPGC the full value of the early termination payment, together with mobilisation, demobilisation and preservation and maintenance costs in the amount of US$134,348,661, together also with interest thereon from 12 November 2018 until the date of payment, accruing daily and compounded monthly, at the rate of LIBOR for six-month US dollar deposits plus 6%”.
The Government of Ghana was also to pay GPGC an amount of “US$ 309,877.74 in respect of the costs of the arbitration, together with US$3,000,000 in respect of GPGC’s legal representation and the fees and expenses of its expert witness, together with interest on the aggregate amount of US$3,309,877.74 at the rate of LIBOR for three-month US dollar deposits, compounded quarterly”.
Fred Dzakpata
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
#GreenGhana
#WeLoveOurLand
