According to him, failure to do so will amount to a breach of the constitution.

The NPA over the weekend announced that it has reduced the levy from 10 to 3 pesewas on a litre each of diesel and LPG, to cushion consumers from high prices.

Although the development has been lauded by petroleum product users, Mr Jinapor believes it will be in the best interest of the government to seek approval in parliament.

John Jinapor in a statement copied to citifmonline.com, also called on the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), to fully disclose the levy so far accrued from the actual “Petroleum Price Build Up (PBU) instead of the opaque manner in which the prices are being determined.”

Read the full statement below:

I have noted with dismay, media reports the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is claiming to cushion petroleum price increases on Ghanaians by amending the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy (of the Energy Sector Levy Act 899 of 2015 as Amended under Act 946) without recourse to parliament.

Section 5 of  Act 899 states that ;

The Minister shall cause to be opened and maintained an account known as the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy to provide:

1. Buffer for under-recoveries in the petroleum sector,
2. Subsidize petroleum prices and
3. Subsidize pre-mix and residual fuel oil.

The Levy imposed on petrol is Ghp12/Ltr, diesel is Ghp10/Ltr  and LPG is Ghp10/kg.

It is important to remind the NPA that Article 175 of the Constitution explicitly states that no taxation shall be imposed otherwise than by or under the authority of an Act of Parliament. It further states that Where an Act, enacted in accordance with this article, confers power on any person or authority to waive or vary a tax imposed by that Act, the exercise of the power of waiver or variation, in favour of any person or authority, shall be subject to the prior approval of Parliament by resolution.

If Government is truly committed to reducing the burden on consumers, it should, as a matter of urgency, proceed to Parliament to seek an amendment of the Act, anything short of this is only deceptive.

Moreover Section 8 (Interpretations) specifically stated that the Minister responsible for the oversight administration of the PSRL is the Minister of Finance and not the Minister of Energy.

It therefore comes as a surprise that the Minister of Energy is attempting to arrogate to himself the functions and responsibilities of the Minister of Finance.

At this moment, it is important to demand of the Akufo-Addo led government to account for revenues accrued from the PRSL since assuming office and how the receipts have been disbursed.

Page 21 of the Annual Report on The Management of The Energy Sector Levies And Accounts for the Year 2016 Submitted to Parliament by Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance makes revenue collection projections for year 2017 amounting to GHS415,344,429 from the PSRL.

It is equally important to demand full disclosure from the NPA on the actual Petroleum Price Build Up (PBU) instead of the opaque manner in which the prices are being determined.

The big question is, what were the actual price changes at the pump preceding the so called intervention by the NPA.

Analysis clearly shows most prices are to remain unchanged even with the full implementation of the PSRL.

John Abdulai JinaporJinapor

MP, Yapei-Kusawgu

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, stated before Parliament that Ghana will save about $7.217 billion from the termination of the 11 PPAs over a 13-year period despite the cost of $402 million that will be accrued as a result.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FA0zAqTUqVXh1Hvq4Uz0hFnOjVezsJ31″]Mr. Agyarko, who has described some of the agreements as knee-jerk reactions to the dumsor crisis, said the PPAs would be providing excess power if they came online.

But Mr. Jinapor believes some of the payments may not be warranted.

“Let the minister supply us with that information. We want to peruse the so-called companies. We want to look at why the ministry would want to pay [$402 million] because as I indicated, some of the agreements placed certain obligations on the power producers which they have failed to fulfill,” he stated on Eyewitness News.

According to Mr. Jinapor, some of these companies “were supposed to have come on stream five years ago. Some were supposed to have come on stream four years ago and so you don’t go paying compensations from those ones.”

“For all you know, we don’t even need to pay anything close to [$402 million] because we have done the figures, we have done the permutations and we are sure the some could be cancelled at no cost… we need further particulars. we need further information.”

Review started in 2015

Giving some background on the PPA agreements, Mr. Jinapor recalled that in June 2015, then Finance Minister Seth Terkper set up a team, which included the World Bank, to review all PPAs and make projections for the next 10 years.

In November 2016, the World Bank and the Energy Sector Group came out with a report that recommended the review of some PPAs which date as far back as the Kufuor era.

“Pursuant to that, we took a memorandum to Cabinet and Cabinet adopted same and directed that we review them [the PPAs] but then we should get the Attorney General’s advice… in our handing over notes, this was well captured,” he said.

Mr. Jinapor made this point to underscore the fact that reviews of the PPAs began before the New Patriotic Party (NPP) took power.

The former minister noted that on the floor of Parliament, Boakye Agyarko “only said government commissioned a team. He didn’t give a date, he didn’t tell us which team it was.”

“I want to believe they are following through on what we started because clearly, it would appear that if we were to allow all those PPAs to come to fruition, we wold have excess capacity.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Produce details of 11 terminated power deals – Jinapor appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, even though there is a possibility that the tariffs might be reduced for businesses and industries, there may not be a significant reduction for residential users.

Speaking to Citi News‘ Duke Mensah Opoku today [Monday], John Jinapor said: “If you are expecting tariffs, I and any other Ghanaian in their homes should not expect any significant reduction in their electricity tariffs. I don’t want to preempt [the budget], but I see a level of deception just like they did with the three percent VAT and claimed that it would not lead to a significant increase in prices. We can attest that the three percent flat rate is rather having a major impact and is creating problems for industry.”

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, had hinted over the weekend at the Association of Ghanaian Industries Awards (AGI) dinner, that electricity tariffs will be reviewed downwards soon.

According to Nana Addo, details of the review will be announced by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta at the 2018 budget reading in Parliament on Wednesday, November 15.

The high electricity tariffs were a major part of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s campaign ahead of the 2016 elections, with many of the party’s communicators claiming that electricity cost more than rent.

“I’m glad that businesses are no longer burdened by the erratic power supply that wrecked our nation in recent years. Dumsor, thank God, appears now to be the thing of an unlamented past. Another of the stars of the government, the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, is to be commended for the sterling work he’s been doing so far on this matter,” the President said.

“Furthermore, the government is moving to set in motion the process for the review of electricity tariffs and in the budget to be read by the brilliant Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, I’m sure we will hear some good news in this regard.”

However, Jinapor believes that the economic challenges faced by the country this year have severely limited government’s spending power, and so a 25 percent decrease in the tariffs as was being speculated in the media was unrealistic.

“I’ve made it clear that looking at the indicators and doing the computation, I don’t believe that government can give the residential users any significant reduction. I’ve even heard some government appointees indicate that they are even going to give a 25% reduction. Even as we speak, government has not paid a cedi for the gas that we’ve consumed this year. From all indications, we are likely to incur 1 billion cedis additional debt. So even as government attempts to pay what they describe as a legacy debt of about 10 billion, we are not solving the problem. We are just scratching the surface because you are piling new and fresh debt and that is a major concern,” John Jinapor added.

“What I expect government to do is to be transparent and honest and come clean on all the challenges confronting the energy sector. The crude oil prices have increased by about 10 dollars this year alone, and the cedi has depreciated, you can’t pay that and you are promising the ordinary consumer that you are going to reduce their tariff and you are even claiming that you can do a 25 percent reduction. What they intend doing is just to come out with artificial issues and deceive us.”

The Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, had hinted of plans to review taxes on electricity to cushion Ghanaians in the budget back in September.

“On the budget, it is our faithful expectation that we should be able to reduce tariffs. We are getting a lot of corporation in so doing. So we believe that through this budget to the end of the year, we should be able to start bringing the prices down,” Agyarko said at the time.

Mr. Agyarko explained that, the government is working to stabilize the price by reducing waste in the power generation and distribution systems.

“When we set out, the commitment was that, we need to correct two things. One was stabilizing power, so that we get the product that we are paying for. I believe that we have largely succeeded in stabilizing the supply of power.”

However, the Minority expressed doubt  about the government’s assurances, stating that the expectation of gas coming on stream to power thermal plants as a means of driving down electricity cost for the ordinary Ghanaian would not materialize.

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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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

The post Go to court over AMERI deal – Jinapor dares gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, 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.

The Minority has already accused the New Patriotic Party of using Parliament as a back door to rescind the deal which is said to be plagued with irregularities.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Fo1uu6oLIPNDruEobbQ9smPIIS3bdKHp”]K.T. Hammond, who filed the motion for the withdrawal of the deal, contends that there were “misrepresentations” by AMERI in the deal that saw Ghana doll out $510 dollars for a 300-megawatt power plant, leaving AMERI with a commission with $150 million.

Following a government review, AMERI in its agreement with Government dated February 10th, 2015, is said to have charged Ghana significantly higher than what it was charged by the Turkish registered company, PPR, which financed and executed the project.

The Turkish firm pegged the total cost of the project at a maximum of $360 million.

Mr. Jinapor, however reiterated the Minority’s stance that challenges to the validity of the AMERI deal, must be done in the court of law.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the MP said: “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.”

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.

The Minority subsequently went ahead with a planned boycott of Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament’s deliberations on the motion.

“…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 advise 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.”

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’ll resist K.T. Hammond on cancellation of Ameri deal- Jinapor appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the government’s decision to “clandestinely” increase the price of fuel is “unfortunate”.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, John Jinapor said the fuel price increase is an indication of the government’s failure to keep up with its campaign promise of removing taxes that contribute to the fuel price build up.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WZy4kDVQunplMw9fBRBmBQ27X92SjNlI”]“I went to the pump today [Tuesday], and realized there is an increment. NPA and government must come out clear on what is happening. This idea of clandestinely increasing fuel prices is most unfortunate. If you increase fuel prices, communicate it, so that there is no ambiguity,” John Jinapor said.

Some drivers, especially in Accra, have in the past week complained about an exponential increase in the price of fuel at various fuel stations although there has not been any official communication from the government or any agency in the petroleum sector to that effect.

Information available to citifmonline.com indicates that, the price of fuel hit an all-year record high this month [September], with Diesel being sold at  GH¢4.29 per litre, and Petrol being sold at GH¢ 4.23.

In July, diesel was sold at about GH¢ 3.77 per litre, while petrol was sold at GH¢ 3.76. John Jinapor alleged that some drivers had begun increasing transport fares, although there has not been any general talk about increases in transport fares.

“Some drivers have gone ahead to increase their transport fares by as much as 30%. I think the government must live up to its responsibility and protect the Ghanaian interest and do what is right,” he said.

The Institute of Energy Security (IES), had earlier predicted a 7% increase in fuel prices.

The increase has been attributed to the marginal depreciation of the cedi, as well as increased global crude oil prices due to the recent floods in the US which affected production at major oil companies.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Come clean on ‘secret’ fuel price increases – Jinapor dares gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Samoa Addo, a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress, said the morning raid of the home of former Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor for some evidence related to the AMERI power agreement, was an affront to the dignity of Parliament.

[contextly_sidebar id=”V5oYaF6BTPMDsGwqpsIxXyhuaKFy3KM8″]In Mr. Jinapor’s case, police did not give him a copy of the warrant after a legitimate request before the search and the lawyer, speaking on The Big Issue, noted that what the officers may have wanted to do was lawful but may not have been carried out lawfully.

In general, Mr. Samoa Addo felt the police were let off the hook for crossing the line over certain arrests.

“It is about time people started suing the police for what I would consider constitutes a lawful arrest because most times people feel that because you can hold a person for 48 hours means that you have necessarily got the unimpeded constitutional right to hold someone for 48 hours. The Constitution talks about reasonable suspicion – that you must a have a reasonable basis to hold somebody.”

“I think the Members of Parliament of Parliament themselves must take the matter to court… this is a fine opportunity for the courts to pronounce that when a Member of Parliament is on his way to or from Parliament, you cannot serve him with a process. So that service of the warrant on them at the time is illegal.”

Security personnel must be queried in public

Criticism of the raid was noted by the Speaker of Parliament summoned an emergency meeting with some national security officers.

But Mr. Samoa Addo said officers connected must be queried in public before the House.

“I think that Members of Parliament, to protect their own dignity, must drag the officers in question before Parliament. I don’t think Mr. Speaker should do this in private. Mr. Speaker must bring them to Parliament so that they will be educated on what they can do and what they can do and what they cannot do.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post AMERI raids: MPs must sue over unlawful searches – Lawyer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This comes after some officers of the Department conducted an early morning search of the former state official’s home and seized his mobile phone.

[contextly_sidebar id=”YhYUxSLCHp9kAQrrNLhlJggvAX6Nv1dt”]According to Mr. Jinapor, he has been invited to a meeting with the Director of the CID on Monday on the subject.

“I haven’t heard from the police. I have been invited to the District of the CID on Monday at 1pm.”

He said his mobile phone has not been returned to him and that has affected his private work.

The Yapei Kusawgu Member of Parliament, however, said he is ready to cooperate with the personnel in their investigations.

“My phone has not been returned and so I’ve had to look an alternative. I’m ready to cooperate with any investigation,” he said.

A former deputy Attorney General, Dominic Ayine also had his home raided by some security officers who said they had secured a court warrant to conduct the search for some evidence related to the AMERI power agreement signed under the former government.

Last week, some personnel raided the home of former Power Minister, Kwabena Donkor, subjecting it to a thorough search for the same evidence.

They took away his laptop and some flash drives.

Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament have expressed their displeasure at the way in which the state security is carrying out their investigations.

According to them, the raid and seizure of personal gadgets were inappropriate.

A private legal practitioner and NDC Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini described the practice as illegal and must be stopped.

According to him, Members of Parliament must be treated with more respect with regards to the way the raid was being carried out.

“There is no rational basis for going for a search warrant to search people’s premises; those who are residents and clearly have a determined places of residence in Ghana and who are working in Ghana and are part of the political elite of Ghana and detain them, search them and keep them as ordinary criminals,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post CID invites Jinapor for questioning on AMERI appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the NDC would have been more assertive and effective in managing the situation in a way that would not result in the present situation.

[contextly_sidebar id=”cEbMeAlP3X2n0XFWnyMOUldUYzVR7OVZ”]Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said although the NDC faced a more challenging situation, it managed it better to prevent Ghanaians from experiencing the full impact.

“Never [this wouldn’t have happened under NDC], given the investment we made, the general capacity that we put in place, the fact that we put in place a deliberate, concrete, but difficult decisions to restructure the energy sector financial system and began paying the banks. In August, we paid the banks 250 million, we paid almost all the various stakeholders with the energy sector levy which the NPP government says it will scrap. We faced a worse situation,” he said.

“It is planning. Clearly when you know that you are going for a shutdown of the FPSO, you do what we call staggering. You phase the maintenance schedule, you don’t box all of them into a particular period and run the risk of knocking off all the plants,” he said.

He lamented that the NDC government in anticipation of the scheduled maintenance, drew a schedule with the management of the Volta River Authority (VRA) to ensure a smooth operation despite the maintenance works, but the NPP government unfortunately fired the CEO of the Authority immediately it came to office.

Speaking on the floor of parliament on Tuesday, February 28, 2017, on the same subject in reaction to a statement from the Ministry of Energy that stated that ‘dumsor’ wasn’t over with the election of anew government, Mr Jinapor said “We [NDC] worked tirelessly, the whole of last year [and] we had reliable and sustainable energy. The FPSO went off for two months and we never had dumsor. Mr. Speaker; it dazzles my imagination that the FPSO goes off for just one week and almost the whole nation is plunged into darkness.”

He said the NDC took over power in 2009 when access to electricity was about 50%, but “today as I speak to you, access to electricity is 83.5% second to only South Africa.”

“We wish to entreat our colleagues on the other side that on Thursday when the budget is presented by the Minister of Finance, we shall keenly monitor to ensure that the energy sector levies and the VAT which they promised are scrapped or not. And the people of Ghana will make a decision on whether they sold their colour television and they have been offered black and white TV or not,” he added.

New deadline to end of dumsor

Following recent erratic power cuts in Accra and other parts of the country, the Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko assured that the situation will normalize by end of Saturday, February 25, 2017, but it turned out to be false.

The Energy Ministry subsequently issued a statement extending the deadline to Monday, February 27, 2017.

“We wish to state that with the tie-in operation successfully completed, and coupled with the measures we put in place including procurement of fuel and increased power supply from La Cote d’Ivoire, the [power] situation will normalize from 27th February 2017,” a statement signed by the Communications Officer at the Energy Ministry, King A. Wellington, added.

We inherited a “heavily indebted energy sector” – Akufo-Addo 

Ghana’s energy sector is currently in a “heavily indebted” state, President Akufo-Addo told Parliament in his first state of the nation address. According to him, the sector has enormous problems that must be addressed urgently.

“We have inherited a heavily indebted energy sector with a net debt reaching $2.4bn as of December 2016. I have to point out the alarming facts that $800 million of this debt is owed to local banks which threaten their stability and that of the whole financial sector. Indeed, the huge indebtedness of the energy sector constitutes the single major hurdle to Ghanaians enjoying reliable and affordable electricity supply,” Akufo-Addo said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘Dumsor’ wouldn’t have returned under NDC – John Jinapor appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“The NPP promised the people of Ghana that if they don’t want dumsor they shouldn’t vote for us. And now the people of Ghana had confidence in them, they voted for the NPP, they expect that all the levies and tax will be scrapped immediately as promised.”

Nana Addo prior to the December 7 polls assured to scrap what he described as killer and nuisance taxes including the energy sector levies if Ghanaians voted for him.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OtjfWi82GZa0fWYZmXHGzB3GmK6tOoCI”]The passage of the energy sector levy resulted in the prices of petroleum products shooting up by 27%. Electricity and water tariffs also shot up astronomically; a move the NPP said worsened the plight of Ghanaians.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, the outgoing deputy minister said the NPP must honour its promise.

“We took that decision in the best interest of the country. We took that decision because we were convinced beyond reasonable doubt that, that was the best decision for this country and there was no alternative. And I will stand by that decision President Mahama took any day. We said we needed the levy because there was some financial issue. When PURC increased the tariff, the NPP said when they come they will reduce the tariffs. We had to take some of the tough and painful decisions in order to sustain power but they say that they have a way of dealing with it and they can still reduce the tariffs, let’s see how it goes. But sometimes we must face the facts and be frank to the people of Ghana. Some of the decisions are tough, some are difficult but the truth is that if you don’t take those tough decisions you risk collapsing the entire power sector,” he added.

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

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