A Deputy Minister-designate for Energy, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has disclosed that a committee tasked by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to renegotiate the contract sum of the Ameri power agreement succeeded in getting the amount reduced by 13 percent.
The committee, he pointed out, also managed to secure a favourable payment term for a $90 million amount that was supposed to have been paid up front.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting, the Dr Amin Adam stressed that the renegotiated deal was in the best interest of Ghanaians.
The deputy minister-designate informed the parliamentary committee his level of involvement in the Ameri deal.
“I only got involved in the Ameri deal when the President, (Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo), asked the then Energy Minister (John Peter Amewu) to renegotiate the agreement, and he added me to the team. So we were able to renegotiate a better deal for Ghana because of what was initially brought to Parliament. We were able to reduce the cost by 13% and also improved on the payment terms.
“We were supposed to pay some $90 million to them at a go, but we managed to spread it over a period, and in addition to that, we managed to exempt the payment from interest accumulation and further got a discount”, Dr Amin Adam explained.
Background
The Mahama administration in 2015 signed a contract with Ameri to rent 300 megawatts of emergency power generators from AMERI at the peak of the country’s power crisis.
The power agreement with the UAE-based Ameri Energy cost $510 million.
However, according to the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the country was short-changed by Ameri as they presented an overpriced budget, and were overpaid by $150 million.
After winning power, the Akufo-Addo government commenced a renegotiation process to ensure value for money.
