The Founding President of IMANI Africa has criticised the report of Parliament’s Energy and Mines Committee on the gas deal between the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Genser Energy Ghana Limited.

Franklin Cudjoe in an interview on Joy FM’s Middaynews stated that the report is one-sided.

According to him, the report is not a complete representation of the committee of Parliament.

“For me, I think the jury is out now. I think the report was one-sided and it needs to go back to the drawing table so that we have a truly representative report.”

According to him, if the report were “factual and important”, the minority side won’t be disassociating itself from its content.

He, therefore, suggested that the report be "shredded."

Read also: https://myjoyonline.com/unpatriotic-acep-imani-response-on-genser-gnpc-gas-deal-parliamentary-committee-report-august-2023/

He proposed that “the Committee should be probably reconstituted and then accept that they’ve made very inaccurate conclusions and that a new report ought to be factually written and presented to the public.”

His comment comes after the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy said it found no irregularities in the GNPC-Genser deal, despite claims that Ghana buys gas for $95.8 million and sells it to Genser for $43.5 million, causing a $1.5 billion financial loss.

Read also: https://myjoyonline.com/parliamentary-committee-endorses-gnpc-genser-deal-debunks-us1-5bn-loss/

In a statement signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Atta Akyea, the Committee rather claimed that more money will be saved by the country.

It stressed that the country stands to benefit from the deal in terms of job creation, and energy sector security.

The report added that the country will make “savings to the tune of US$ I.462 billion as GNPC will lose USS 1.462 billion if GEGL moved to WAC0G Net Back.”

Also, there will be a reduction in transmission losses by US$480 million once the Ameri plant is relocated to Kumasi and made operational.

Read more: Claims GNPC is causing financial loss to the state in Genser deal misleading – Deputy Energy Minister

In conclusion, the Committee noted that there is sufficient gas in the background, hence, Ghana Gas and Genser can operate and run convenient Gas Transmission Plants to power the economy.

But the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, John Abdulai Jinapor, has disassociated himself from the contents of the report.

He insists the report does not accurately reflect his views and that of the entire Minority in Parliament. 

In a statement issued on Thursday, August 17, he urged the public to disregard the report.

Read also: https://myjoyonline.com/ghana-gas-rejects-parliament-mines-and-energy-committees-report-on-gnpc-genser-deal/

Meanwhile, Ghana Gas Senior Staff Association has also rejected the report of the Committee.

The Chairman of Ghana Gas Senior Staff Association, Richmond Alamu, is concerned that the deal’s conditions could negatively impact consumers and potentially lead to some losses for Ghana.

“The nation – Ghana, we all need to be very careful of the dire consequences of the decisions that are made today. There are a lot of things that we want improvement on and we cannot allow our birthright as primary actors to be going to a foreign land.

“So, the initial agreement was for them to come and assist and they abrogated the contract … so we need to make sure that nobody throws dust into anybody’s eyes by stating that we even went into agreement from the onset,” he said.

The Association called on all relevant stakeholders to re-look at the deal.