Minority moves to overturn Ameri deal

The minority in Parliament is to file a motion for recession to overturn the parliamentary approval of the controversial Ameri Power deal.

The house had on March 20 2015, stamped its seal of approval on Ghana’s power deal with Ameri Energy, as part of efforts to contain the lingering energy crisis.

But recent reports by a Norwegian Newspaper, VG, have exposed damaging details which suggests alleged collusion between the government and the Dubai-based company in an effort to reap off the Ghanaian tax payer.

It is understood that the minority believes strongly that an urgent motion is needed to allow Parliament to re-examine the deal and possibly overturn parliament’s seal of approval on it.Insiders say the minority members will in the next few days hold a news conference to officially state their position on the matter.

The NPP had on Monday in a statement alleged that President Mahama and his brother, Ibrahim Mahama, who is the CEO of Engineers and Planners, were connected to the deal. They demanded an immediate bipartisan inquiry into it.

Engineers and Planners have since denied any involvement in the deal and warned the NPP to stop peddling such falsehoods or face a law suit.

Parliament had also in a statement released today [ Wednesday] insisted that it did an efficient work on the deal before its approval and that it believed the pact was clean and in Ghana’s best interest.

Meanwhile the UAE-based Ameri Group LLC, has also in a statement denied engaging in a dubious deal with the government of Ghana, in relation to power plants it procured for the country to solve its energy crisis.

The Norwegian Newspaper VG, in its report suggested a possible inflation of the cost of the Ameri Power plants by more than 200 million dollars.

The story said Ghana is paying $510 million for ten power turbines when the market value of the turbines is $220 million.

Ghana’s Power Ministry has since denied the report describing it as false. Ameri in response to the claims that have gained massive attention in Ghana said the report by VG is “false and slanderous”.

The company says it is consulting with its legal advisers to take the necessary action against the Norwegian paper for false publication.