The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alex Afenyo-Markin, has filed a suit against the Attorney-General, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ecobank at the Supreme Court for going ahead with the Karpower agreement without recourse to parliament.
With him is the MP for New Juaben South, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah. The two MPs are seeking the constitutionality of the Karpower agreement which in total will cost the taxpayer a whopping $100 million to enable the government ‘import’ 450 megawatts of power from Turkey to offset the current energy supply deficit.
Mr Afenyo-Markin, said they took the action after all efforts to get the government to send the Karpower agreement to parliament for scrutiny had failed. He noted that the agreement smacks of some ‘underhand dealings’ and that the nation is not in a position to throw more of taxpayers’ money into the drain.
Afenyo-Markin, who is also a member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, had persistently raised the issue on the floor of the House in respect of Article181 (Clause 5) of the 1992 Constitution, which states that every international financial agreement by government must be brought to parliament for approval.
Upon such persistence, the speaker of parliament ordered the Minister of Finance to bring the Karpower agreement to the House but since March when the order was given, the minister had failed to produce the agreement, compelling the speaker to allow the Effutu MP to resort to the courts for determination of the case.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE after filing the suit on Friday, Mr Afenyo-Markin said that the country is governed by laws and that the ruling government must be made to do the right thing and not allowed to take Ghanaians for granted.
According to him, the minister of finance had admitted in parliament that the ministry issued a ‘comfort letter’ to the GNPC to cover the agreement, which means that the government had committed itself in issuing a guarantee that had been endorsed by Ecobank.
“The fact that the nation is facing serious energy crisis which requires urgent solution does not mean that the wrong thing must be done,” he cautioned.
The Effutu MP averred that he had personally petitioned President Mahama to ask the minister to do the right thing but all appeals had fallen on deaf ears.
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