The Provost of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Professor Charles Ofosu Marfo, has advised the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to issue an unqualified apology to certain individuals in the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, led by President John Mahama.
This apology is in response to the unfair criticism of the Africa and Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI) thermal power plant deal.
Professor Marfo on Oyerepa Breakfast Time argued that the NPP’s claims in 2015, the NDC government signed the deal, alleging corruption surrounding the US$510 million Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) contract, have been proven false.
He said, the NPP should take responsibility for their statements and apologize to the NDC.
While acknowledging that the deal may have been costly given the circumstances at the time, Professor Marfo emphasizeD that accusations of corruption and mismanagement are unfounded. It is important for the NPP to acknowledge this and make amends.
“In fact they[ the NPP] should be apologizing to certain personalities in the party, NDC. They should be apologizing. You see, everyday, I say Politics is about numbers. And one way of getting people to your side is to apologize to them…They should apologize that it was a very good idea that they went for AMERI and their talk at the time of excess and all, they erred…So I agree that it was the style of negotiations…Maybe it was expensive but don’t say someone stole money,” he said on Oyerepa Radio recently.
The AMERI deal was signed by the Government of Ghana and the Africa and Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI) based in Dubai during Ghana’s power crisis in 2015. The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) criticized the Government for entering into such an expensive deal and vowed to negotiate a better agreement if they won power in December 2016. However, in 2018, the NPP Government renegotiated a deal with AMERI that was considered even worse than the original. As a result, President Akufo-Addo dismissed his Energy Minister due to the failed renegotiation.
Recently, the AMERI power plant was relocated from Aboadze in Takoradi to Anwomaso in Kumasi and rebranded as the Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Plant (K1TPP).
