Energy Minister Sacked, Amewu Now Acting!

Peacefmonline.com can confirm that Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko, has been sacked over the controversial Novation and amendment AMERI deal.

His dismissal takes "immediate effect".

This follows claims that President Akufo-Addo was 'misled' in the new AMERI deal presented to Parliament few days ago.

A statement issued a few minutes ago and signed by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, said the President by a "letter dated 6th August, 2018, relieved the Minister for Energy, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, of his position, with immediate effect."

According to the statement, President Akufo-Addo "asked Mr. Boakye Agyarko to hand over his office to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. John Peter Amewu, who will act temporarily as Minister for Energy, until a substantive appointment is made".

Public Uproar

The Akufo-Addo government took the revised deal to Parliament last week under a certificate of urgency, but the House deferred its deliberation on the contract due to concerns over the cost and value for money.

Under the new proposal, the Greece-based Mytilineos International Trading Company was to assume management responsibility for the AMERI emergency power-generation arrangement negotiated by the past NDC government, in effect extending the original outsourcing agreement by ten more years.

In the supposed renegotiated agreement, government is expected to extend the $510 million deal from its original five years to 15 years with the government committing over $700 million to it.

Management of Ameri Energy has since stated that it had no discussions with government with regards to the power plants and the new deal with Mytilineos.

The new deal has, however, been described by the Minority in Parliament, the Volta River Authority (VRA), African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC Ghana) as “stinky” and “a rip-off,” and would prefer the President kicks him out of office.