On the assumption of power in 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo in his first state of the nation address announced a review of power purchase agreements including the Ameri Deal. This was in order to prioritize, renegotiate or to cancel outright if necessary all in the national interest.
This was also reiterated by his vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia aimed at the quest for a better value for money in the previous negation by the former government.
A committee chaired by Mr. Philip Addison which looked at the deal and travelled to the United Arab Emirates concluded in 2017 that the issue be renegotiated because it was overpriced by about 150 million dollars. The police then in July, 2017 visited the homes of some officials believed to have knowledge of the Ameri agreement and in search of documents relating to the deal. This act the then Director of Public Affairs at the time, Mr. David Ocloo explained the CID officers had visited on a court order to look for evidence to find out if someone was culpable.
Government is opting to allow the 250-megawatt (MW) Africa and Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI) deal to run until end of April 2021, Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director of Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), an energy think-tank, has told the B&FT.
It is been five (5) years since Ghana procured the Ameri Plant, implicatively meaning it is time for ownership to revert to the country. Government has made inputs in taking over the Plant but it is however not clear exactly when full disclosure of the outcome of the investigation will be made and government’s total capacity to take over ownership.
