POWER MINISTER EXPOSED IN AMERI DEAL

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 18 December 2015

Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is putting more pressure on Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, to come clear following what is turning out to be falsehood he peddled in the controversial AMERI Group deal, which has sparked heated political debate in the country.

The beleaguered minister last Monday in a release justifying the AMERI deal, had claimed emphatically that the Dubai-based company was going to be responsible for the payment of all civil works that will lead to the installation of 10 new General gas generators as part of the entire $510 million contract sum - which ACEP even says has reached over $600 million.

Dr. Kwabena Donkor went ahead to say that the NDC government “has not made any payments to AMERI and will not be making any payments for the cost of the equipment. Per the agreement with AMERI, the Government of Ghana through the Volta River Authority (VRA), will only make payments to AMERI for power produced and supplied to the VRA just like any other Independent Power Producer (IPP).”

ACEP’s Exposure

However, ACEP, referring to the 2015 Annual Report of the Petroleum Fund by the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, revealed that Ghana paid a whopping GH¢15 million for civil works alone.

Ibrahim Mahama, who is undertaking part of the civil works, has admitted receiving GH¢25 million for the work done, claiming that the payment was even low but because he wanted to save his brother, President John Mahama.

In line 5 of Page 34 of the report under Energy Infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said the Interim Payment for Civil Works Under 250mw for AMERI Emergency Power Project at Aboadze in the Western Region, totaled GH¢15,144,563.85.

“The Minister of Power told Ghanaians in his press statement of 14th December that AMERI is responsible for all the civil works and indeed that forms part of the $510 million deal,” ACEP said adding, “Now, the Finance Minster reports that government paid for the civil works from oil money at GH¢15 million. Whom do we believe?”

Letter of Credit

Dr. Kwabena Donkor in his statement on Monday, had also hinted “Ghana’s requirement to provide a standby Letter of Credit (LC) for an amount of $51 million, which LC has been raised.

 “It must also be explained that the quoted price of $220 million in the Norwegian story for outright purchase of similar turbines is exclusive of all other costs such as auxiliaries, balance of plant, civil works, sub-station, installation of equipment, cost of financing, operation and maintenance etc,”

Indepth Analysis

ACEP in an indepth analysis, said it appears Ghana is going to pay more than $510 million quoted as the contract sum.

Its Chief Executive, Mohammed Amin Anta in a news release on Tuesday, said AMERI would be smiling to bank every year with the payment of $120 million - totaling $600 million for the contract - with the Ghana government also picking the cost of fueling. 

“AMERI will be paid $850,000 per turbine per month. This will amount to $8.5 million for the ten turbines, with cumulative annual payments of $102 million. In addition, an amount of $16.6 million will be paid as variable costs. This brings the total payment due to AMERI and its partners to almost $120 million,” ACEP pointed out.

Middleman Role

Already, it has been alleged that AMERI Energy signed the contract with the government but behind-the-scenes, it appeared to be playing a middleman’s role. According to the Norwegian newspaper, AMERI has a contract with a Greek firm called METKA for the supply of the turbines. METKA also got the equipment from GE in the United States.

AMERI Energy, according to the newspaper, is paying METKA $350 million for the turbines, compelling some experts to question where the $510 million of which the $350 million is a part, will be going.