Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko
Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko has said categorically that, he had no power to terminate the PPA agreement which has led to the award of $170 million judgement debt to Ghana following the cancellation of the GPGC contract by the Government of Ghana.
According to the former Energy Minister, he only acted on the directive of legal advisories as he had no power to act on his own accord, so, he cannot be liable for the judgement debt incurred.
“Let me be emphatic, let me state without equivocation, I [Boakye Kyeremanteng Agyarko], I have no authority or interest in terminating somebody’s contract. It is not as if I am envious of any individual, therefore, I will go ahead to say that I am terminating your contract. No, that’s not what it is,” Agyarko said in an interview on Asempa FM, Tuesday, June 29, and monitored by GhanaWeb.
He added, “I cannot be held liable in any way. I only acted on legal advice because I am not a lawyer or engineer; so, I had to just adhere to the advice offered. Would it have been appropriate if I had acted contrary and there were problems?”
Boakye Agyarko explained, all the actions taken at the time concerning the various renegotiated power deals were decisions of the Cabinet.
“It was during my tenure but don’t say I cancelled the contract because I did not use my will or power to cancel anyone’s contract.
The decision was that we should negotiate them out. I sent the report to Cabinet and they accepted the report with all recommendations. I was asked as sector minister to implement the report,” he maintained.
About the arbitration
The GPCC dragged the Government of Ghana to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) after an official termination in 2018, demanding compensation from the government for breach of contract.
The court subsequently awarded the company an amount of $170 million to be paid by Ghana.
Ghana challenged the arbitration award in a UK court, but could not meet the deadline to file its case citing the COVID-19 pandemic and elections among others as reasons for the delay.
The Attorney General, Godfred Dame, has stated that processes are underway to thoroughly probe circumstances that led to Ghana being slapped with the $170 million judgement debt.