Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Hadzide has criticised IMANI Africa’s recent comments on Aker Energy’s oil discovery.
According to the Deputy Minister, IMANI Africa failed to conduct a thorough research before raising red flags over the deal.
He said IMANI could be sued over its failure to do the necessary checks.
“If IMANI wants us to take them seriously they need to check and double check before they engage with the public in the manner that you did. [There was a] Major press conference [by IMANI] to ask questions that could have been found by just going to the Registrar General.”
“When the Kelni GVG issue came you knew how to find the owners and you did not just allude to it so you know what to do. You cannot do that especially when you are on record to have done the proper thing before. Otherwise people will be justified to suspect mischief and therefore will want to demand apology or even proceed to court to sue for defamation,” the Deputy Minister stated.
IMANI at a press briefing indicated that the country could lose 30 billion dollars due to the nature of the agreement covering the discovery and pointed to a potential conflict of interest involving GNPC Boss, Dr K.K Sarpong.
Though government has denied the allegations and Dr K.K Sarpong and Fuel Trade have asked for an apology but IMANI is insisting there is no need for an apology.
“What are we apologizing for? For asking a question? How do you apologize for asking a question from which someone has provided an answer? It is not a falsehood at all,” Mr. Cudjoe said.
In justifying the position of the policy think thank, Mr. Cudjoe said: “First of all, let us know that, the Petroleum Agreement expires in 2036 but the programme of development that Aker submitted is based on an extension of the term of the current concession they had [from 2036 to 2049] and that is when Aker projects that they will cease production of the wells.”
Post source: citinewsroom.com | Ghanawish.com
