Ghana

Akufo-Addo slapped with $130 million judgement debt for cancelling Mahama's energy agreements

Monday, February 15, 2021 at 6:49 AM by Nii Ayi Ayitey

- The Akufo-Addo administration has been fined by the International Court of Arbitration

- The reason is that his administration cancelled some energy contracts signed under Mahama

- About 30 million dollars in fines have also been slapped on the government

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The International Court of Arbitration has awarded a cost of $134 million and an interest of $30 million against the Government of Ghana over the cancellation of an Emergency Power Agreement with GCGP limited.

The contract was cancelled under the former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko as part of several other energy contracts cancelled by the NPP on the basis that the country did not need those power agreements.

The ruling by the International Court of Arbitration ordered the government of Ghana to pay to “GPGC the full value of the Early Termination Payment, together with Mobilization, Demobilization and preservation and maintenance costs in the amount of US$ 134,348,661, together also with interest thereon from 12 November 2018 until the date of payment, accruing daily and compounded monthly, at the rate of LIBOR for six-month US dollar deposits plus six percent(6%).”

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Akufo-Addo slapped with $130 million judgement debt for cancelling Mahama's energy agreements (Stock Photo modified by arthur)
Source: Facebook

The Government of Ghana was also to pay GPGC an amount of “US$ 309,877.74 in respect of the Costs of the Arbitration, together with US$ 3,000,000 in respect of GPGC’s legal representation and the fees and expenses of its expert witness, together with interest on the aggregate amount of US$ 3,309,877.74 at the rate of LIBOR for three-month US dollar deposits, compounded quarterly.”

In other energy news

The BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) agreement between the government of Ghana and AMERI on the 250MW thermal plant ends on January 31.

Per the agreement, the plant will be taken over by the government of Ghana via the Volta River Authority. As of Sept 2020, AMERI wrote to the government on the terms of the contract and its readiness to hand over the plant.

“I can confirm that government has not yet responded to the letter. Ghana's indebtedness to AMERI (over $32 million) has not been settled, no technical audit has been conducted and no staff of VRA has been trained to operate the thermal plant. In terms of the economics, it will be in our interest to own and operate the plant,” an economist, Eugene Bawell, revealed on his Facebook page.

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One thing of much concern is that the same AMERI deal got Boakye Agyarko fired as the minister for energy.

Already, there is the possibility of Ghana experiencing some power outages this year. Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have all warned of ending their services if the government does not pay them for the debt owed by over 150 million dollars.

Yvonne Nelson says Mahama ended dumsor

Ghanaian actress, Yvonne Nelson, has said former President John Mahama was the one who fixed dumsor before exiting power in 2016.

Yvonne, known for her bold political utterances, was reacting to a post she made on a twitter in which a user apparently misunderstood her.

According to the user by the name Antaru Mashud, Yvonne fought for Akufo-Addo to come to power in 2016 only for Ghanaians to suffer.

Meanwhile, shortly after Yvonne led that vigil against Mahama, she turned around to commend him for the improvement in the power supply.