A former Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has exonerated himself of any wrongdoing or negligence in a power purchase agreement with the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), which has led to a $170 million judgement debt being slapped on the government of Ghana after it was abrogated.
He has thus called the bluff of the Attorney General to probe all who were involved in executing the deal.
The Attorney General, Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame, has said he is duty-bound to ensure that the case is investigated and persons found culpable duly prosecuted.
He explained that the probe is not targeted at any particular individual, and that it is in the interest of the State to bring clarity on issues such as the relevance of the agreement and the cost.
“I have indicated that first and foremost we are going to refer part of the process for examination by the CID, and that enquiry will even establish whether it was necessary for the agreement to be entered into, whether indeed it was expensive,” he said.
But Dr. Donkor, under whose tenure the agreement was signed, has said he isn’t afraid of any investigations whatsoever.
According to him, he is not a lawyer, and that he wasn’t responsible for the drafting of the agreement.
He explained the drafting of the agreement was done by the legal advisors of the Ministry under the supervision of the Attorney General’s office.
“As the Attorney General who is the chief legal officer of the country, he has a right to call cause for investigation and I will cooperate fully because I am a law-abiding Ghanaian. So if the CID says they want to investigate something, why do I have to hide.”
“When you have a clear conscience and act in the national interest, you are not afraid of anyone. Everyone has a right to investigate. I have my documents. I went to the cabinet and it was approved. If they say the whole cabinet was wrong, fine. I submitted it to Parliament and if they say the whole Parliament is wrong, fine. I’m not a lawyer. I didn’t draft the agreement. The agreement was drafted by the legal officers of the ministry under the supervision of the Attorney General’s office. So if you say the draft was wrong, am I a lawyer?” he asked.
Dr. Donkor made these comments in an interview with an Accra-based television station, Joy News.
Addressing journalists in Accra, the Pru East legislator also said he cannot be intimidated by the Attorney General’s threat to drag some persons to the CID over the matter.
“We were all here with the AMERI. They raided our homes at dawn. It amounted to nothing. I acted in the best national interest. If anybody disagrees, he has the right to investigate. But you don’t sit on the radio as Attorney General and try to intimidate people like me. We are not intimidated. If he wants me to go to the CID headquarters, I’ve been there several times… The CID has consummate professionals. They are not political foot soldiers,” he said.
Background of the judgement debt
The GPGC dragged the government of Ghana to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) after an official termination in 2018, demanding compensation from the government for a breach of the contract.
The court subsequently awarded the company an amount of $170 million to be paid by Ghana.
Ghana challenged the arbitration award in a UK court, but could not meet the deadline to file its case, citing the COVID-19 pandemic among others as reasons for the delay.
The Attorney General, Godfred Dame, has stated that processes are underway to thoroughly probe circumstances that led to Ghana being being slapped with the $170 million judgement debt.
