A former deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor, has called on the Member of Parliament (MP) of Adansi-Asokwa, K.T Hammond to seek redress in court if he wants to challenge the validity of the AMERI deal.
K.T Hammond, on Wednesday, moved that Parliament withdraw the agreement due to what he calls “misrepresentations” by the company, when the deal was presented to the House under the Mahama Administration.
[contextly_sidebar id=”OrzBSsnFsKqYmevNuMPMns38sfJNrNZZ”]Mr. Hammond notably seconded the motion for the agreement between the country and the Africa and Middle East Resources Investment Group’s (AMERI Energy), to rent the 300MW of emergency power from the company for $510 million, at the peak of the country’s power crisis.
However, K.T Hammond, who was the Ranking Member of the Energy Committee of Parliament in 2015, when the deal was approved, told Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee on Wednesday that, AMERI failed to live up to portions of the agreement presented to Parliament in March 2015.
According to him, AMERI acted in a way that was contrary to its proposal to the government, for which reason he had seconded the motion for the agreement to be ratified two years ago.
However, the Minority boycotted the session of the Mines and Energy Committee deliberating the urgent motion, filed to reverse the power agreement.
The boycott was due to the fact that, the motion to withdraw the deal was not debated in Parliament before being forwarded to the Mines and Energy committee.
Speaking on Eyewitness News later in the day, the MP for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor, insisted that the Minority’s argument was anchored on principle, and said “we are right and think that we ought to be commended” for resisting the motion to rescind the deal.
He also asked that anyone with challenges with the deal should go through the legal system in order to get their concerns addressed.
“It is not within our ambit to sit and adjudicate, and give a ruling as to whether something is fraudulent or not. The right place to go to is the court of law… we hold the view that the right place to go to seek redress is the court of law,” Jinapor said.
He added that, the Minority would remain resolute in its resistance to the Adansi Asokwa MP, K.T. Hammond’s attempts to get Parliament to cancel the agreement.
Their continued resistance is also evidence of consistency from the Minority, he added, after the Minority staged a walk out of Parliament in August, over the Speaker’s decision to forward the motion to the Energy Committee without input from them.
Jinapor stated that, the Minority deserved to be commended for their actions.
“…If we go, after boycotting on the Floor, to go and sit in the [Mines and Energy] committee to go and agree with them, then there is an element of double standards so we are maintaining consistency,” Mr. Jinapor opined.
His advice to Parliament on the matter of the AMERI deal is that, it “considers all the options, and if we really determine that there is an element of fraud, let the party to the agreement, which is the government of Ghana, go and say that we have an agreement with AMERI and AMERI has breached the agreement… that is neater, that is tidier and that is fairer.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa and Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana