AMERI contract hit by court suit
The government’s $510 million contract with Africa & Middle East Resources International (AMERI) Group to provide 250 megawatts (MW) of power is being challenged at the Human Rights Division of the High Court.
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Two members of CitizenGhana Movement, a civil society organisation dedicated to the cause of good governance, social justice and social accountability, are asking the High Court to order the Minister of Power to make full disclosure on the said contract between the government of Ghana and AMERI Energy.
The applicants, Sara Asafu-Adjaye and John Stephen Bonful, have sued the Minister of Power, the Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and are praying the court to order the Minister of Power to furnish them with a copy of the signed contract together with the due diligence report (if any) on the contract between the government of Ghana and AMERI Energy dated February 10, 2015.
They also want an order directed at the
Affidavit in support
An affidavit in support of the application for enforcement of the fundamental human rights of the applicants and deposed to by the applicants, both leading members of CitizenGhana Movement, said the action was “brought in the spirit of probity and accountability as enshrined in the Constitution and more specifically pursuant to the applicants’ civic responsibility to protect and preserve public property and expose and combat misuse and waste of public funds and property as provided in Article 41(f) of the Constitution.
“It is the applicants’ case that sometime on February 10, 2015, the government of Ghana, acting through the first Respondent, signed an energy contract with AMERI Energy for the provision of a fast-track turnkey power generation solution to the government of Ghana,” it said.
That pursuant to this contract AMERI was obligated to install 10 new GE TM 2500+ Aero Derivative Gas Turbines and to operate, maintain and transfer same in good and operable condition to the government of Ghana.
It said the said contract was submitted to Parliament which referred it to the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Energy to deliberate on and report to the House on same.
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According to the applicants, as captured in the March 20, 2015 parliamentary hansard, when the said contract came up for debate before the House, the Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Energy, Mr Cletus Apul Avoka, requested that Standing Order 80(1) of Parliament be waived and the motion to adopt the contract be moved that day.
“That Standing Order 80(1) requires that no Motion shall be debated until at least, forty-eight hours have elapsed between the date on which notice of the Motion is given and the date on which the Motion is moved.
It is the applicants’ case that had the Standing Order 80(1) not been waived, the entire House would have had the full benefits of perusing and digesting the contract together with the Report of the Mines and Energy Committee on same before debating it and going ahead to approve it.”
Media reports
It said sometime on or about December 14, 2015, a Norwegian media house reported that the said contract was tainted with the fingerprints of a known international fraudster who was wanted by the police of Norway for financial crimes and his involvement in organised crime.
“Further that the Norwegian media house reported that AMERI had never been resident at its stated address in the said contract.
It was further reported that the website of AMERI was constructed in November 2014, few months before the said contract was signed.”
Writer’s email: mabel.baneseh@graphic.com.gh.