Ghana’s Parliament has dismissed reports the house failed to scrutinize the AMERI power deal before approving it.
Investigations by two Norwegian journalists revealed the country may have been shortchanged in the deal due to a possible inflation of the price.
The story said Ghana is paying $510 million for ten power turbines when the market value of the turbines is $220 million.
[contextly_sidebar id=”LC65fpaBQWRiIfGAelctpczyP1EAGap1″]The issue has raised public outcry with many criticizing Parliament for doing a shoddy job on the deal. However a statement from the house signed by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Kate Addo, said due process was followed.
Find below the full statement
Parliament has noted the concerns raised by a section of the Ghanaian populace in respect of the agreement between the government of Ghana and The African and Middle East Resources Investment Company (AMERI) on the provision of the purchase or sourcing of power turbines for the generation of power as part of measures to help resolve the current power crisis in the country.
Parliament wishes to inform the general public that due process was followed in the discharge of its duties. The said agreement was first brought to Parliament on the 3rd of March 2015 and was referred to the Committee on Mines and Energy in accordance with the rules of the House.
The Committee in deliberating on the agreement asked for additional information from the Ministry of Power which was duly provided.
Further, the Committee invited the Sector Minister and other technical officers to attend and proffer expert advice on how to proceed with the agreement which advice was taken and acted upon by the Committee.
The Office of Parliament also notes the concern raised that the said agreement was rushed through the House, thus depriving members of the opportunity to properly scrutinize the Bill.
The Office of Parliament will like to place on record that, this is not the case. The said Bill was brought before the House and laid on the 3rd of March 2015. Once the agreement was laid, the document became a public document and any individual, group of persons who wanted to comment on it could have done so in a memo to the committee or to the House as a whole.
The said agreement was approved on the 20th of March 2015, eighteen (18) clear days after it had been brought to the House. Invocation of order 80(1) during the consideration of the agreement does not in any way imply that the agreement was rushed through the House. On the contrary, it is an indication of the importance attached to the agreement. The Official report of Parliament also indicated that no Member of Parliament wanted to speak on the matter and was turned down.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana