The motion, according to Citi News sources has been filed by the Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament, K. T Hammond, who was the ranking member of the Energy Committee at the time the deal was brought before the house.

[contextly_sidebar id=”aKv4rObgWDRlDyOUWP3j3Epz85b9xy6a”]It would be recalled that the K. T Hammond was the NPP MP who supported the motion when it was moved on the floor.

Excerpts of the motion sighted by Citi News indicates the legislator’s conviction that the deal was suspicious based on some fresh information available to him.

The motion has been approved by the leadership of the House but is yet to be programmed.

The John Mahama-led administration in 2015 agreed to rent the 300MW of emergency power from AMERI at the peak of the country’s power crisis.

As part of the deal, AMERI was to build the power plants and operate them for 5 years before transferring it to the government.

The cost of the deal was $510m and received parliamentary approval on 20th March, 2015.

The approval of the deal was met with several oppositions but eventually received endorsement by the legislative body.

It later emerged that the government had been shortchanged by AMERI as they presented an overpriced budget.

The reports said the government had paid an excess of $150m but state officials of the Mahama government disagreed.

The New Patriotic Party government which assumed office said it would look into the matter.

The Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko later constituted a committee led by lawyer Philip Addison to investigate the matter that that ended in controversy as it emerged that the committee had seemingly entangled itself in a conflict of interest position by accepting sponsorship from AMERI to travel and stay in Dubai for some days as it investigates them [AMERI].

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By: Umaru Sanda Amadu & Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, bringing on-board these companies which included General Electric (GE), PPL, APR AND Metcar was unnecessary.

Ameri Power secured a contract from the erstwhile National Democratic Congress’ government to provide about 250 Megawatts of power for Ghana because of erratic power cuts in the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”GrlzjKP3mKMh8qGg2xpR3IJsrKwt8dNQ”]However, the New Patriotic Party government upon assuming office tasked a 17-member committee to investigate the contract, which they believe was not in the best interest of Ghanaians.

The lawyer Philip Addison led committee after its investigation disclosed that the contract was bloated by about $150 million.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, Bright Simons explained that government currently pays Ameri power $10 million every month for its services adding that the amount is too high.

According to him, the company should be paid $2.5 million instead.

” Our argument is very simple, in so far as every month government has to go and find nearly $10 million and hand it over to Ameri, there is room for negotiation to bring that amount down. That is all that we are asking for. Definitely they must re-negotiate. Government has already committed itself to try and bring down that cost. We need clarity from government for the timeline and strategy on how to get that done,” he added.

He further lambasted the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) for not doing due diligence to deal during its initial stages.

“In terms of order of anger, I’m most incensed by the regulators in the space—Energy Commission, PURC and the rest, I think it is completely useless that we pay regulators that absolutely have no understanding of the remit of their mandate. PURC should be involved because they are the regulators,” he added.

The IMANI Ghana Vice President also said he was disappointed at the NPP government for not giving a clear road map on how the deal with be re-negotiated.

Click below to the listen to the full interview:

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post 5 companies were involved in Ameri deal – Bright Simons [Audio] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Ameri in its agreement with Government dated February 10th, 2015, charged Ghana significantly higher than what it was charged by the Turkish registered company – PPR, which financed and executed the project.

[contextly_sidebar id=”su2tYeLA6Gfjz1KmYkziGZnylWB8TvGM”]The Turkish firm pegged the total cost of the project which is to span over a 5 year period at a maximum of 360 million dollars.

Bloated Commission 

However in the Build Operate Own Transfer (BOOT) agreement signed between  Government and Ameri the deal was pegged at a minimum of 510 million dollars.

Leaving Ameri with a commission of 150 million dollars.

According to the 17 member committee inaugurated by the Energy Minister Mr. Boakye Agyarko on February 01,2017 to review the Ameri power deal, on grounds of that anomaly, as well other financial, technical and legal issues, the power company must be made to re-negotiate the deal or be rejected by Government on grounds of fraud.

The deal was signed as an emergency power agreement on the 10^th of February, 2015, between Government of Ghana represented by the Minister of Power and Ameri Energy, to help reduce the country’s power deficit at the time.

According to the Committee chaired by private legal practitioner Mr Philip Addison, though the plant is currently operational a number of omissions and concessions made in the agreement are not only unfair but also not in the interest of Ghana.

Plant has no operating license

According to the committee’s report the Ameri Energy plant currently does not have an operating license.

The development, the committee states, is contrary to section 11 and 25 of the Energy Commission Act, 1997 (ACT 541) which requires the operators of the plant to secure the licenses and permits.

The committee urges that  Ameri Energy must get the required license and permits as soon as possible.

It adds that a Grid Interconnection Agreement must also be signed between the plant operator and the Grid operator (GRIDCo).

Meanwhile the Energy Commission (EC) is reported to have officially notified VRA that the Ameri 250MW plant is yet to secure an operational license.

Ameri and its third parties exempted from taxes payments 

The report also revealed that Government at the time also approved a wide exemption of taxes for Ameri and its third parties.

The move meant that Ameri and all its affiliates and sub-contractors and third parties were not liable to pay any form of tax whatsoever in Ghana.

The Committee in its report stated that the move was not acceptable and directed that moving forward, contractors must be made to pay taxes such as corporate and income tax.

No due diligence was carried out on Ameri

According to the Committee’s report no due diligence was carried out on Africa and Middle East Resources Investment Group LLC (Ameri Group) nor Ameri Energy Power Equipment Trading LLC (Ameri Equipment).

Consequently GoG has no information on the shareholders and directors on either company.

Meanwhile, despite the Deputy Attorney General being present during negotiations and execution of the Agreement, there was no legal opinion on Ameri from the AG’s Department.

The committee recommended that in the future legal opinion from the AG’s department must be sought, to ensure that Agreements conform to the laws of the country.

Engineers and Planners paid for unfinished work

The committee also revealed that Government had the sole responsibility under the Agreement to provide a cleared, levelled and compacted site acceptable to Ameri Energy for the installation of the equipment.

This activity was contracted by Government to Engineers and Planners (E&P).

According to the report the two tasks under this responsibility remain to be completed by E&P namely, spread of gravel on the lay down area to Ameri’s specifications, and perimeter and access roads to the site.

But the report states that E&P have demobilized from the site without completion of the works, which it states is a breach of E&P’s contract with GoG.

Adding that it has been informed that Government has paid E&P for all works undertaken to date.

The outstanding activities have dire implications on the operation of the plant such as frequent replacement of air filters due to excessive dust, which negatively impacts on the plant’s availability, the report said.

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By:  Vivian Kai Lokko/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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