New AMERI deal stalls over 'figures'

Parliament has deferred to the next sitting, approval of the new AMERI deal.

According to Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the House needs to “interrogate the figures to know that what we are doing is in the best interest of the country, which explains why [the debate on the deal has been delayed].”

“I spoke to the Finance Minister, I spoke to the Attorney General plus the Minister of Energy and we all decided to tarry a while and have a closer look at it,” the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said.

The Akufo-Addo administration has taken steps to amend portions of the controversial $510 million AMERI deal signed by the John Mahama administration.

The government, on Wednesday, 25 July, laid a paper before parliament for the amendment process to start.

It was referred to the Joint Committee on Finance and Mines and Energy for consideration and report by the First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu.

It follows a motion filed by Adansi-Asokwa MP K.T. Hammond for parliament to cancel the deal due to what he calls “misrepresentations” by the company when the deal was presented to the House under the Mahama administration.

The $510 million deal with AMERI was signed in 2015 and meant for building power plants, which would be owned and operated by the company for five years before being transferred to the government of Ghana.

Think tank Imani Africa, however, raised concerns that the deal was overpriced by $260 million.