Entrepreneur and politician Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom believes several officials must be sacked if it is established that Ghana’s Power Ministry signed a deal with a company with “questionable references.”
Pressure is mounting on government to fully disclose the terms of its agreement with the Dubai-based AMERI Group to produce electricity for Ghana. Over the weekend, it came out that Ghana’s Minister of Power had signed a power deal with a Norwegian fraudster at an inflated cost.
Critics have also descended on the government questioning the depth of due diligence conducted on the matter. A sticking point, was the cost of the transaction- $510 million – an amount which many viewed as inflated compared to other options.
Nduom, who is the leader of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has stated on his Facebook wall that if due diligence was not done ahead of the signing of the AMERI deal then “many heads must roll.”
Below is his full Facebook post:
Many Heads Must Roll?
So after checks and counter checks, it is true that Ghana’s Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor signed deal with Ameri Group worth a reported 510 million dollars to lease a power plant.
What I together with many Ghanaian taxpayers and power users want to know are these:
1. Is it true that the deal was signed with a company with questionable references?
2. Are the principals of Ameri Group a Dubai prince and Umar Farook Zahoor a man wanted for several fraudulent acts in Europe?
3. Is the price tag for the deal inflated?
4. Did cabinet and the presidency do proper due diligence on the Ameri Group and the pricing of the deal given that previous international transactions have suffered credibility tests after the fact? Reference CNTCI and STX Korea.
5. Is power from this transaction an influencing factor in the recent electricity price hike?
I am practicing patience, willing to give benefit of the doubt to President John Dramani Mahama and the Power Minister on this deal. We need answers. Quickly. Otherwise, many heads must roll!
Meanwhile, the Power Ministry has described the Norwegian newspaper report as false.
