The Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE) has called for a comprehensive review of Ghana’s power purchase agreements (PPAs), particularly contracts signed during the country’s emergency power period in 2013.
The call follows the conviction of former Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Managing Director Asante Kwako Berko in the United States over a bribery scheme connected to the development and financing of a power plant in Ghana.
CEMSE Executive Director Benjamin Nsiah said the disclosure of the agreements would enable civil society organisations, energy sector stakeholders and the public to examine the contracts and identify possible irregularities.
He wants all PPAs signed from 2013 onwards, especially those negotiated during periods of emergency power supply, to be made available for public scrutiny.
“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.
Mr Nsiah said transparency should not end with publication, arguing that existing agreements must also be subjected to detailed scrutiny to determine whether Ghana continues to receive value for money under the contracts.
Where the review identifies unfavourable or problematic provisions, he said government should consider renegotiating the agreements.
“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 also called for people who were directly involved in negotiating the agreements to be questioned as part of the review process.
According to him, their accounts could help explain how contentious or unclear provisions found in some of the contracts came into existence.
“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.
CEMSE is proposing that Ghana move beyond ad hoc disclosures and establish a permanent system for publishing PPAs.
Under the proposed arrangement, every power purchase agreement would be made public from the time it is signed until it expires.
Mr Nsiah said the Energy Commission, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the ministry responsible for energy should all publish the agreements on their respective 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.
He added: “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.”
The renewed call for transparency comes after the conviction of Asante Kwako Berko in a US court over a bribery scheme linked to a power plant project in Ghana.
The case involved an agreement between the Government of Ghana and Turkish energy company Aksa Enerji Uretim A.S., a client of US investment bank Goldman Sachs, for the development and financing of a power plant.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Berko conspired with others to pay more than $1 million in bribes to several Ghanaian government officials in connection with the project.
Berko, who was formerly an executive director in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division, became involved in securing and managing the agreement between Aksa Enerji and the Ghanaian government from December 2014.
The project was being pursued against the backdrop of a national energy crisis, with Aksa Enerji seeking to construct and operate a power plant expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
US prosecutors said Berko and his co-conspirators made payments to individuals at different levels of the Ghanaian government to influence the awarding and implementation of the project.
In April 2015, Berko and others discussed paying $1 million to the then Minister of Power, who was responsible for securing key approvals for the project.
The evidence also showed that five Ghanaian officials received $5,000 each during an all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to inspect equipment for the proposed power plant.
The deal was subsequently ratified by the Ghanaian Parliament in July 2015.
According to the US case, Berko and his co-conspirators later exchanged emails extensively about the bribe payments.
For CEMSE, the case highlights the need for greater public scrutiny of the agreements underpinning Ghana’s power sector and the processes through which they are negotiated and approved.
