Former deputy power minister, John Jinapor

The Minority in parliament is accusing the government of fraud and corruption in the newly negotiated Karpower deal.

According to the NDC MPs, the deal is worse than the widely condemned new Ameri deal currently before parliament.

Addressing the media, former deputy Power Minister John Jinapor said due to the terrible nature of the renegotiated 450megawatts Karpower deal, the board of ECG refused to approve an attempt by the government to extend it to 20 years.

“This renegotiated agreement is even worse than the Ameri novation agreement presented to Parliament by Mr Boakye Agyarko. Indeed, the renegotiated Karpower agreement stinks to the heaven with big fishes in government superintending the looting of the State under this new deal,” he told a news conference Wednesday.

“I am not surprised,” he continued, “that ECG board has declined to approve this deal.”

“What they [Government] have done is to double the turner. Any time you double the turner of a PPA, the rule of a ton is that the capacity charge drops to between 30 and 40percent. What this government has done is to renegotiate the deal, double the turner, giving us a minimal reduction of about 8percent.

“So who is seeking to cream off the 32 per cent? Who is sharing this 32 per cent that has been sidelined somewhere? The renegotiated Karpower deal was poorly renegotiated and fraught with inflated and padded figures,” he added.

He said it has become “obvious” that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been caught up “in their own web of lies and deceit on which they rode to power. Their every move and actions in government continue to vindicate the NDC lay bare the truth in all the matters in contention.”

“It would have been expected,” he said, that “they [NPP] will show contrition and apologise to the good people of this country for the deceit and lies, they, however, chose to compound their ills with shocking agreements that are deep in corruption to the detriment of the people of this country.”

Karpowership last year connected its 470 MW Karadeniz Powership Osman Khan to the national grid.

The operation of Karadeniz Powership Osman Khan is in consonance with the Power Purchase Agreement signed with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) requiring Karpowership to supply a total of 450 MW into the national grid for 10 years.

Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM