Ameri Saga: ACEP applauds Akufo-Addo

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for rescinding his approval of the Ameri Novation and Amendment Agreement, which is currently before parliament.

ACEP, in a statement, said the decision “is a significant contribution to the democratic practice of the country” and it shows that “governance can be a shared responsibility between leaders and the led.”

ACEP said the problems of the power sector today could have been averted if the government had been this proactive in the first place prior to the signing of power deals during the power crisis that bedeviled the country between 2014 and 2015.

“Today, the cost of excess capacity of the power sector to the country is more than $200 million a year. This will grow in excess of $600 million by 2020 if drastic measures are not taken to cancel, renegotiate or defer some of the projects that are pending,” the statement warned.

ACEP noted that it will monitor how the renegotiations are done to ensure that they rather lessen the economic burden on Ghanaians.

The energy think tank said: “We acknowledge that government, through the Ministry of Energy, has already cancelled some of the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) which would have deepened the woes of the country through unwarranted payments.

“Nonetheless, the power sector still remains a major risk to Ghana’s economic progress because of excess capacity which incidentally are also too expensive to encourage local demand growth, or for export.

ACEP said it is “encouraged to continue to support the governance process to ensure that the power sector does not derail Ghana’s economic prospects”, as a result of the decision of government to withdraw the agreement. “We will submit a full picture of the threats in the sector to the president in the coming days.”

President Nana Akufo-Addo cancelled the renegotiated Ameri deal which was revised by his ex-Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko, after scrutinising the agreement.

Mr Akufo-Addo ended up firing Mr Agyarko when it was revealed that Ghana will lose up to $472 million per the revised agreement.

Source: ClassFMonline