Amewu is Interim Energy Minister

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appointed John Peter Amewu, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, as acting Minister of Energy.

This follows the dismissal of Mr Boakye Agyarko from that position.

Mr Agyarko was on 6 August 2018 removed from office over the controversial $150 million Ameri deal signed by the John Mahama administration.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration began taking steps to amend portions of the deal because it believes that there was no value-for-money in the deal, hence the renegotiations.

Mr Agyarko came under heavy criticism when he claimed that Ghana will gain $405 million from the new power deal with Ameri Energy but it was discovered that the country will rather lose up to $472 million.

The new agreement was to extend the current five-year deal with Ameri Energy which is currently operating a 300MW emergency power plant in Ghana, to 15 years and bring onboard a new company from Greece, Mytilineous International Trading Company, to manage the plant for the period.

President Akufo-Addo was reportedly “misled” into granting executive approval for the deal to be rushed through parliament but it has now been cancelled by the president leading to Mr Agyarko’s dismissal.

Prior to Mr Amewu’s appointment as Lands and Natural Resources Minister, he was a leading member of energy think tank Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), whose founder Dr Mohammed Amin Anta, currently serves as Deputy Minister of Energy.