The Minority in Parliament claims it has uncovered an arrangement to hand over Ghana’s natural gas resources to a private company.
According to Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy John Jinapor, the arrangement was originally between the State and a foreign company but in an alleged move to bypass the requirement for a Parliamentary approval, an entity has been registered in Ghana to proceed with the contract.
John Jinapor says the contract has been shrouded in opacity and smacks of corruption, in an exclusive interview,he said that because government intended to bypass parliamentary processes to approve those “dubious” contracts, it constituted a local company to foster the processes on its behalf.
He explains that whilst one of the factions in government is “supporting Intel Logistics Bureau, another faction is supporting Genser for the same resources.”
“This has the potential of leading to serious judgement debt against the state,” he cautioned.
Describing the contract as “illegitimate, illegal, opaque and clandestine”, the Yapei Kusawgu lawmaker likened it to an already existing contract he describes as a “rip off” where “Genser is paying US$1.70 for gas that is supposed to be sold around US$6.00.”
The former Deputy Minister of Energy further alleged that some high ranking government officials are putting pressure on the Chief Executive of Ghana Gas to approve some of the contracts.
He sent a word of caution to government and the companies involved to advise themselves since the next NDC administration will not countenance any such arrangements.
“We in the Minority wish to send a caution and let me make it clear that we are aware unimpeachable information indicates that some high ranking officials in government are pressurising the Chief Executive of the Ghana Gas Company to sign some of these dubious contracts.
“Let me make it clear without and let me make it clear without equivocation that the next John Mahama administration will not be bound by illegal contracts. In as much as we respect the sanctity of contracts, we will not honour illegitimate, illegal, opaque, clandestine contracts that go against the Republic of Ghana,” he cautioned.
