GENSER/GNPC deal: Ghanaians were swindled by Atta Akyea committee – ACEP

Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has stated that the Committee led by the Chairman of the Committee on Mines and Energy, Samuel Atta Akyea to probe the Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) between GENSER Energy and GNPC deal did a poor job.

The deal, according to some experts, may cause the Ghanaian taxpayer some $1.5 billion dollars if due diligence is not followed.

The Ghana Gas senior staff association has described the GENSER/GNPC report released by Mr. Atta-Akyea on the investigation as unsatisfactory.

The Chairman of the association, Richmond Alamu stated that the Ghanaian people would rather suffer the consequences of the deal in future.

Commenting on the development on Starr Today with Lily Mohammed, the Executive Director for ACEP, Benjamin Boakye describes the Committee handling of the deal as unfortunate.

“I think perhaps all of us were swindled by the Atta-Ayea Committee because when they said they were going to investigate the deal. Everybody recoiled hoping that they would do a good job and preserve the interest of the State. So they kept us out of the loop for the past nine months or so. After we appeared before the Committee we never heard anything from them.

“I don’t know why it took that long. Only to wait for the pipeline to be completed. At the same time within that period, GENSER has been paying all the discounts. They are paying 2.79 instead of the average cost of gas on the market, Mr. Boakye stated.

He continued: “So they have benefited so much even within this period that the Committee said they were investigating. So we think that perhaps they were just trying to buy time for GENSER to complete the pipeline infrastructure. So that they can then rubber stamp it and say that they have completed it and therefore we don’t have to do anything about it. That is really unfortunate.”