Kwadwo Nsafoah Poku
Chairman of the Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Manifesto Committee, Kwadwo Nsafoah Poku, has expressed surprise by as he put it the claim by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that “the government is deceiving Ghanaians by renaming the AMERI plants K1TPP (Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Plant).”
In a social media post, Kwadwo Nsafoah Poku stated that the NDC, under the leadership of John Mahama ripped the country of $160 million when it overpaid $290 million through an agreement with AMERI to acquire 250 General Electric (GE) plants to support the country’s energy sector.
The NDC, he said, should be happy that the government is finally removing the name AMERI. “Let me remind Ghanaians what AMERI is “The full name is Africa and Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI),” he disclosed.
According to him, AMERI signed an agreement to sell ten (10) 25 Mega Watts GE TM2500 gas-fired turbines to Ghana for $510 million, which could have been bought directly from General Electric (GE) company for $220 million in 2015.
He said, “They signed an agreement to sell ten (10) 25 MW GE TM2500 gas-fired turbines to Ghana for USD$510 million. These 10 GE TM2500 turbines could have been bought directly from the company General Electric (GE) for USD$220 million at the time (2015). By going through a middleman and paying over five years, Ghana overpaid USD$290 million. Anyone can verify from all records that it was indeed METKA who operated the gas plants at Takoradi for five years. The company AMERI did nothing in Ghana except rip us off.”
“The AMERI company only played a middleman role in the acquisition of the 250 MW GE plants. The company that owned the 10 GE TM2500 turbines was a Greek EPC company called METKA, which is owned by Mytilineos Group,” he pointed out.
The energy expert further claimed that a Norwegian newspaper called Verdens Gang (VG) reported that one Umar Farooq Zahoor, an international fraudster with arrest warrants issued by Interpol and the Oslo police signed the agreement with the Deputy Attorney General, Dominic Ayine at the time.
He, therefore, asked the NDC to rather applaud government for all the interventions made to sustain the energy sector.
He also stated that on September 17, 2015, METKA, a company owned by Mytilineos Group in a press release in Athens mentioned ten new gas turbines manufactured by GE that would be provided for the country.
Mr. Poku said AMERI which served as the ‘middleman’ walked away with $160 million at a transaction cost of $350 million.
He stated, “The ten gas turbines are owned by Ghana and operated by Volta River Authority (VRA), so why should they be called AMERI? AMERI in Ghana stands for fraud, rent-seeking, and corruption. The NDC can keep that name. I believe they should instead express gratitude to VRA for the rebranding. We are still waiting for innovative ideas on why the NDC wants to come back to power.”
By Ebenezer Amponsah