SRP Scandal: No Financial Loss To State!

Energy Minister Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom says officials responsible for the hiring, implementation and execution of the Strategic Reserve Plant by the Volta River Authority have no case to answer for causing financial loss to the state.

The controversial plant, which cost Ghana about around 30 million dollars, was purchased under Charles Wrecko Brobbery's term as VRA chief executive to serve as an emergency power plant in the times of a power crisis.


But the plant served little purpose over the twenty one month that it stayed in Ghana and was one of the main issues played up by workers of VRA in their bitter battle to get Brobbey out of office.


Brobbey quit his post at VRA recently and only last week, the authority announced it was returning the plant to its owners General Electrics with one year still to run on the lease agreement.


The decision to return the plant has led to calls that the officials responsible for the lease of the plant should be charged for negligently causing financial loss to the state as happened to some officials of the former NDC government whose poor judgment cost the nation several millions of dollars in the Quality Grain scandal.

But Energy Minister Ndoum told JoyFM's Super Morning show that the officials have no such case to answer. "Sending them back means there is no longer a need for them, he said. Money has been spent to obtain insurance that cannot be called losses."


Though he admitted that there had been flaws in the handling of the project, he insisted the decision was taken in good faith. "The implementation was not done well but the decision to acquire was the best."


Ndoum said there were now concrete plants to take care of the country's power needs. Instead of temporal plants we will have permanent plants to serve in emergencies. The Aboadzie thermal plant is being fixed and it is likely to yield results next year. In two years too, VRA and ECG would make improvements."


During the lease period, Ghana paid 275,000 dollars every month to maintain the plant. An auditor general report on VRA said the plant had caused financial loss to the state.