€250m German power deal 'big vote of confidence' in my government – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the €250 million deal signed between the government of Ghana and the German government to upgrade Ghana’s electricity transmission infrastructure, is a “big vote of confidence” in his administration by the German government.

The government of Ghana, on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, received, as part of Germany’s Compact with Africa programme, €250 million from the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to upgrade and expand the country’s electricity transmission infrastructure.

A Memorandum of Understanding, to this effect, was signed at Jubilee House by Mr Jonathan Amoako-Baah, CEO of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), on behalf of the government of Ghana, and by Sabine Dall’Omo, a representative of Siemens, in the presence of President Akufo-Addo and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG, Mr Joe Kaeser.

The signing of the MoU has seen Ghana receive a quarter of the €1-billion fund put in place by the German government to boost the private sector in Compact countries, of which Ghana is one.

Under the agreement, the two companies will work not only to improve Ghana’s electricity grid capacity and stability, but also help ensure that the country expands her ability to export power to neighbouring countries in West Africa, such as Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin.

Witnessing the event, President Akufo-Addo described the signing ceremony as a very important development in the energy sector of the country, adding that: “The people from GRIDCo know, as well as I do, how necessary it is to undertake this project – the retooling, and refitting of our transmission and grid system across the country”.

The importance of the project, Nana Akufo-Addo underscored, stems from the “kind of future that we want to design for ourselves as a rapidly industrialising economy, that is going to be focused on important infrastructural developments, as well as big resource developments in our bauxite, manganese, and iron ore industries. All of this is going to have to be focused very much on reliable accessibility to power and the rest.”

With Ghana being the first country in Africa to benefit from a significant transaction from the ‘Compact with Africa’ programme, the President indicated that this “is, in itself, a big vote of confidence by the German leadership and Chancellor Merkel and yourself, one of the great German companies, to work in our country.”

He continued: “We welcome that expression of confidence, and we want to assure you that it is not one that we will abuse. We, on our part, are determined to work in transparency and openness with you, to make sure that this project comes to a proper conclusion.”

For his part, Mr Joe Kaeser, President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG, stressed: “The MoU will, together with our partner GRIDCo, modernise the whole grid of Ghana in steps, one at a time, and also organise the grids and bring the power to the people in a more efficient way. It will also help young people and train them and educate them for the future.”

He added that the Compact with Africa initiative is about the future of Africa.

“It is about showing them the way and on how to lead; and the first thing in this future in this vision is about electrification. It is about energy. The agreement is not only about supplying grids or products or solutions, it is about being a proud, responsible and an honoured partner to Ghana, and to the Ghanaian people, so that we can build this country for the future,” the Siemens President added.

On 12 June 2017, President Akufo-Addo attended the G20 Africa Partnership Summit in Berlin, Germany, where the Compact with Africa (CwA) programme was announced, and at which Ghana became one of the beneficiary countries of the Compact.

Again, on 27 October 2018, he attended another such meeting in Berlin.