PARLIAMENT HAS denied media reports that the agreement between the government of Ghana andthe African and Middle East Resources Investment Company (AMERI) on the provision of the purchase or sourcing of power turbines for the generation of power was rushed for approval.
Deputy Director of Public Affairs in Parliament, Kate Addo in an interview with the DAILY HERITAGE yesterday explained that Members of Parliament were satisfied with the deal, hence,they did not debate it when the agreement was brought to the plenary for discussion.
Ms. Addo said the deal had no controversial issues at the time because experts had come in to explain and advised the committee so there was no serious issue to debate.
“In this particular case, experts had come in…so there was no point in carrying on or at least that was the feeling of the House at the time that is why it was passed at that time. It had stayed with the committee for 18 days and during that time, the committee had invited various people who had come and answered questions on the same thing,” she added.
Press statement
A press statement issued and signed by the Deputy Director stated that the “agreement was first brought to Parliament on the 3rd of March 2015 and was referred to the Committee on Mines and Energy in accordance with the rules of the House.”
The statement noted that the committee deliberated on the deal and asked for additional information from the Power Ministry which was duly provided.
Ms. Addo stated that other technical people attended upon the committee and proffered expert advice on how to proceed with the agreement and it was acted on.
“The Office of Parliament also notes the concern raised that the said agreement was rushed through the House, thus depriving members of the opportunity to properly scrutinize the Bill.The Office of Parliament will like to place on record that, this is not the case,” the statement added.
According to the press statement, the said agreement was approved on March 20, 2015, 18 days after it had been brought to the House.
Ms. Addo said the “Official report of Parliament also indicated that no Member of Parliament wanted to speak on the matter and was turned down.”
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