Godfred Yeboah Dame and John Abdulai Jinapor
• John Jinapor says Godfred Dame won’t be AG forever
• He comments come after Dame said he will let CID investigate the $170m judgement debt
• The judgement debt came about after GoG terminated a PPA contract wrongfully
John Abdulai Jinapor, MP for Yapei Kusawgu, has reminded Godfred Yeboah Dame that he will not be the Attorney General and Minister of Justice forever so he should be guided by his actions.
The AG had hinted that persons whose action led to the $170 million judgement debt to Ghana will be investigated by the CID and dealt with accordingly.
“The fact borne out by the PPA committee’s report was that the agreement, together with other agreements, had resulted in such excessive power supply to the state. The state was going to lose $586m per annum and a cumulative cost of about 7.6 billion dollars between 2013 and 2018.”
So, I think that when it comes to financial loss it is so clear in my mind that the responsibility lies clearly with those who entered into the agreement. The basic point is that the entry into this transaction was unnecessary. The entry into this transaction was what resulted in financial loss to the state,” Godfred Dame explained.
He added, “I, on account of all of this, I’m going to write a formal complaint requesting an enquiry by the CID into the conduct of the public officers who acted in the manner which resulted in the signing of an agreement which resulted in financial loss to the state.”
I think that first and foremost the entry into the agreement itself was wrong. There was no justification because their own committee determined that the agreement was going to result in excessive power.”
Responding to this, the ranking member on the energy committee of parliament said:
“You can choose to threaten us. You can choose to behave in any way you want because you’re the Attorney General. But let me put this on record to you. You will not be Attorney General forever.
“So please, these issues of John Jinapor, John Jinapor would not help your matter. You advised the Minister to terminate against the committee’s recommendation.”
Jinapor indicated that the judgement debt of $170 million was caused by the wrongful termination of the agreement and subsequent inability of government representatives to meet deadlines given by the London Commercial Court to file a challenge to claims made by GPGC.
“The current $170 million, what was the reason for the judgement? You were given a window, and you failed to appear,” he stressed.
The Government of Ghana was ordered by a London-based United Nations Commission on International Trade Law tribunal to pay a contractually defined “early termination payment” of more than US$134.3 million plus interest and costs.
The agreement between the government and GPGC, an independent power producer, was terminated in 2018.