Former Energy minister has ridiculed government’s claim it saved the taxpayer $7bn after cancelling power purchase agreements deemed surplus to requirements

Emmanuel Amarh Kofi-Buah explained the agreements couldn’t have cost the country that much because they were non-binding.

“It doesn’t become effective until you send it to parliament.  They have not saved anything it is paper they are talking about.  Power Purchase Agreements are sheets of paper until that is really formalized”

“What are you cancelling? That agreement is already cancelled it is out no effect” he told Evans Mensah on Joy News late evening analysis show PM Express Tuesday.

The government has announced, it has terminated 11 power deals signed between Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and private power producers and also rescheduled eight other agreements.

The justification given was that the agreements would increase excess capacity from over 530MW to 2,887 MW by 2021.

Government explained it cost $402m to terminate the projects to produce power. But it was worth it government explained, adding it would have been paying $586m for 13 years for power projects it would not need.

Lampooning the previous Mahama administration, the government declared a savings of  $7.619 billion over the 13 year period.

But the former Energy minister Kofi-Buah who is also NDC MP for Ellembelle constituency has called the announced cancellation a hoax.

He said the reviewed agreements is a sign of a short-sighted administration because government energy policy is to become a net exporter of power.

He said Nigeria needs 10,000MW which Ghana must seek to sell them power while it works to do same with Burkina Faso, Togo.

A visionary government, the NDC MP said, would invest in exporting power for cash. The former minister also argued the so-called excess power could prove critical to the Akufo-Addo administration’s ambitious industrialization policy.

The ‘one factory in every district’ policy needs power.

Kofi-Buah said Ghana’s first government, the CPP administration under Kwame Nkrumah was criticised for wasting Ghana’s money in constructing Akosombo Dam to produce more power than the country needed.

Rejecting the government’s explanation that it would cost over $400m to cancel some agreements, the former Energy minister said there is no need to pay the companies when they have not started building the power projects.

Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah challenged government to list all the companies whose agreement with ECG has been cancelled.