The Alliance of CSOs in the extractive sector has kicked against government’s attempts to relocate the AMERI Power Plant to Kumasi.
The Alliance which includes IMANI Ghana and the Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition, subsequently questioned the basis for relieving AMERI off their responsibilities without government doing an independent assessment of its activities contrary to the stipulated contract.
At a press conference held in Accra Thursday, August 11, 2022, the Alliance’s statement read by Samuel Bekoe, a member said they “maintain that the minister should consider other options which we believe are far more optimal than only attempt to relocate the AMERI Power Plant and the unnecessary cost additions that we have seen.”
“We want to know the reason why AMERI was relieved of their responsibilities. It raises fundamental questions on the responsibilities that AMERI had under the agreement and the liabilities for ratification of work upon transfer of the plant to the government. It appears that AMERI was relieved of their responsibility under the agreement as a prelude to the sole sourced agreement with Mytillineos. Because the ministry had agreed with Mytillineos to assume responsibilities,” the Alliance alleged.
Also, “the Built Own Operate and Transfer agreement between the AMERI Energy and the government of Ghana required AMERI to maintain the plant per the original manufacturer standard – OEM standards – at their own cost before handing it over to Ghana, subject to their own personal agreement three months to the expiration of the contract, but AMERI was relieved of their responsibility before the independent assessment was conducted.
“We were very clever to put in the contract that three months to the expiration of the contract we would have conducted an independent assessment but before we even conducted the independent assessment, AMERI was relieved of their responsibility.”
The Alliance is subsequently asking the ministry to seek other alternatives to achieve the aim of stabilising power in the middle belt, and also forgo the sole sourcing to open up for competitive bidding to save the state’s purse from wastage.
“We demand that the minister of energy should constructively engage on the core issues rather than divert public attention from them. We understand the overall aim is to stabilise power in the middle belt and hence discussion should focus on how to efficiently achieve this objective and not just one option which he is fixated on.
“The minister of energy should revisit the concerns on the need to adopting a competitive bidding process to accommodate local contractors to achieve the most optimal contract cost,” the Alliance demanded.
By Felix Anim-Appau|Onuaonline.com
