Dismissed Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko would have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had consulted widely in the renegotiation of the Ameri power deal, Mikdad Mohammed, Principal Research Analyst at the Institute of Energy Security (IES) has said.
According to him, if the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the Attorney General and the Ministry of Finance had been involved in the renegotiation of the deal, they would have pointed out the flaws in the agreement in order to be dealt with accordingly.
President Akufo-Addo sacked Mr Agyarko via a statement dated 6 August 2018, signed by Director of Communications at the presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin.
The correspondence said Mr Agyarko is to hand over his office to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, who will act temporarily as Minister of Energy, until a substantive appointment is made.
The President wished Mr Agyarko well in his future endeavours.
Mr Agyarko’s dismissal is in connection with the Novation and Amendment Agreement of the controversial $150 million Ameri deal signed by the John Mahama administration.
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.
Speaking on Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM Tuesday, 7 August, Mr Mikdad Mohammed, said: “If the Minister had consulted the Ministry of Finance, the AG and the PURC for inputs, he would probably have not been sacked because the president would exercise constraint to enable him do a thorough analysis before taking any decision”.
“I am even sure that if he had consulted these agencies, one of them would have insisted that the deal in its form is a bad one and should be modified. This would have averted the situation we are facing now”.
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com
