$170 million Judgment Debt: I’m heartbroken NDC’s hard work marred

Former Deputy Minister of Energy under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah says he is heartbroken pondering over the events leading to the slap of $170m judgment debt on the state, following the termination of the power agreement between the state and an independent power contractor.

GPGC won a 170 million dollar judgment debt against the Government of Ghana at the London Commercial Court of international arbitration earlier this month for the abrogation of the contract.

In a statement, Mr Buah, MP for Ellembele, indicated the efforts by the John Mahama administration to have an effective electricity power supply has been “marred by a decision for a US$170 million judgement debt.”

Below is the statement;

As a former Deputy Energy Minister and former Energy and Petroleum Minister, I am completely heartbroken that all our hard work and singular focus to address our power challenges and ensure a stable electricity supply is being marred by a decision for a US$170 million judgement debt, which was imposed by a London commercial tribunal on behalf of Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) for wrongful termination of the contract.

How did this come about? The GPGC emergency power agreement was signed in July 2015, it had a cabinet and parliamentary approval. The termination of the agreement leading to the tribunal award took place in 2018 under the current government. This was after Ghana’s failure to properly defend the case in court.

I have heard the Attorney General’s hasty threats of investigation and prosecution. It is important to fairly study the events leading to the termination and how as a country we defended this case in court.