‘Tullow contract’ allegations against NAPO laughable – Energy minister’s press aide

Press Aide to Energy Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Kofi Abrefa Afena, has described the claim made by Kevin Taylor on Sunday night, June 2, 2024, accusing Energy Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh of wrongdoing as laughable and only portraying Kevin Taylor as a complete joke.

According to Mr. Afena, the whole idea is to smear and attack the Energy Minister, a man who has proven to be a thorn in the flesh of the NDC.

“The oil and gas space is highly technical, so if you want to allege wrongdoing without any basis, you will definitely be exposed, and this is exactly what has happened to Kevin Taylor, who has thrown proper journalism to the dogs in satisfaction of his paymasters,” he said.

“If you follow his rendition closely, you will see that it clearly lacks depth, is full of inconsistencies, and has questionable logic.”

“If you recall, Kevin Taylor in his initial outburst said the contract was estimated at $204m, but now says it is estimated at $450m. In his latest outburst, he admits that Tullow is awarding contracts, not NAPO, which is contrary to the earlier impression he created that NAPO had cooked, signed, and approved a certain contract,” Abrefa added.

According to the press aide of the minister, Kevin Taylor now mentions a certain Stephen Kermah as being involved in the deal, not a company owned by Bumpty as he erroneously painted initially.

“The writing on his Facebook wall of the name Qassim Shittu and asking if NAPO knows him and had met him to create an impression of a looming bombshell were all nothing short of theatrics.”

“Kevin Taylor is only exciting the base of the NDC, creating a perception of corruption and some mirage of wrongdoing, just as the NDC did in the 2008 elections for electoral gains, but this time around, the people of Ghana are more discerning and can see through these old tactics,” Afena stated.

In a press statement issued last week in response to the initial claims by Kevin Taylor, the Ministry of Energy said it was not responsible for the signing and approval of contracts in Ghana’s upstream petroleum space, and therefore matters of signing and approval of contracts involving Tullow and its Partners mentioned will certainly not require the approval of the Ministry.

It said the contracting in the upstream sector goes through a rigorous and thorough technical and commercial assessment and evaluation process by the operator before recommendations are made to the other partners who in turn conduct their own independent assessments and evaluations prior to approving contracts.

That process, it maintained, is not subject to government control.

According to the press aide, on the plain reputational onslaught Kevin Taylor keeps mounting on Dr. Prempeh, specifically impugning criminality on him, the Minister’s legal team will resort to the necessary legal remedy in due course.