The Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE) is calling for the publication and review of Ghana’s power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed from 2013, particularly those negotiated during periods of emergency power supply.
The call follows the conviction of former Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Managing Director Asante Kwako Berko in the United States over a bribery scheme linked to a power plant project in Ghana.CEMSE Executive Director Benjamin Nsiah said making the agreements public would allow civil society organisations and other stakeholders to examine their terms and identify possible irregularities.“I think government must disclose all power purchase agreements from 2013, especially during the emergency periods.
We need to disclose them because disclosure allows assessment and then affirmation of certain illegal dealings or not from the CSO perspective,” he said.Nsiah also wants existing PPAs to be reviewed to determine whether they continue to provide value for money.He said government should consider renegotiating agreements where necessary.“Beyond that, I think the contract has already been signed, but we also interrogate the contract further and if the need be, we should renegotiate for new terms,” he added.He further called for people who took part in negotiating the contracts to be engaged as part of the review.“If we could also interrogate persons involved in negotiation, it would also help us unravel some of the ambiguous deals in some of these contracts,” Benjamin Nsiah mentioned.
Permanent disclosure regimeCEMSE is also advocating a permanent system for publishing PPAs from the time they are signed until they expire.Nsiah said the Energy Commission, PURC and the ministry responsible for energy should publish the agreements on their websites.“I think that going forward, all power purchase agreements from their start to end must be published on the Energy Commission’s website as well as the PURC’s website,” he said.“The Ministry themselves must also publish some of these agreements on their website. Disclosure is key to ensuring transparency and accountability in the power sector,” he added.Berko bribery case
The case involving Berko centred on the development and financing of a power plant under an agreement between the Government of Ghana and Turkish energy company Aksa Enerji Uretim A.S., a client of Goldman Sachs.US court documents and evidence presented during the trial said Berko conspired to pay more than $1 million in bribes to Ghanaian government officials in connection with the project.Berko, a former executive director in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division, was involved in securing and managing the agreement between Aksa Enerji and Ghana from December 2014.The project was pursued during Ghana’s national energy crisis and involved plans for the construction and financing of a power plant expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
According to the US case, Berko and his co-conspirators made payments to officials at different levels of government to influence the company’s bid to build and operate the plant.In April 2015, they discussed paying $1 million to the then Minister of Power to secure key approvals for the project.Five Ghanaian officials also received $5,000 each during an all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to inspect equipment for the plant.The power plant agreement was ratified by Ghana’s Parliament in July 2015.US prosecutors said Berko and his co-conspirators subsequently exchanged emails about the bribe payments.CEMSE says greater transparency in PPAs would help strengthen accountability and public oversight of Ghana’s power sector.
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