Secrecy-shrouded contracts between Gov’t and investors limiting investments into Ghana – ACEP
Executive Director of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Ben Boakye, has said the Government needs to be transparent in its dealings with investors if it seeks to attract genuine investments into the country.
The energy expert made the assertion cautioning against the secrecy that oftentimes surrounds contracts between the Government and investors, particularly those in the power and extractive sectors.
Speaking during the NorvanReports and Economic Governance Platform X Space discussion on the topic, “Unravelling the Facts and Truth Concerning the GNPC/Genser Deal”, Mr Boakye noted that Ghana has the ability to attract investors, but the oftentimes the secrecy surrounding Government dealings with investors discourages other investors that genuinely want to invest in the country and avoid bad publicity.
“Ghana needs to be transparent in its investments and contracts with private investors, if we are seeking to attract genuine investments.”
“It doesn’t have to do with our ability to attract investors but the secrecy the investments is often shrouded in,” said Mr Boakye when quizzed by the host Norvan Acquah-Hayford if the current brouhaha surrounding the GNPC/Genser deal will discourage investments into the country.
Speaking further, Mr Boakye noted that as a Think Tank, it is interested in the value that Government contracts with private investors bring to the country and not discredit private investors.
“What we are interested in is the value the GNPC/Genser deal brings to the country and not who the private investor is or what the private investor is doing,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Vice President of IMANI Ghana, Bright Simons has described the GNPC/Genser deal as another “Pay or Take” contract.
According to Mr Simons, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy by okaying the GNPC/Genser deal, is committing the GNPC to pay for gas-pipeline infrastructure which it either uses or not.
Also speaking during the NorvanReports and Economic Governance Platform X Space discussion, Mr Simons averred the GNPC cannot be made to agree to a “Pay or Take” arrangement with Genser and hence pay capacity charges whether or not it uses the gas pipelines.
“What we found out in our preliminary investigations is that there’s not an attempt to create two contracts. One of the contracts is an attempt to get GNPC to commit to “Take or Pay” arrangements for the gas pipeline infrastructure.”
“In a country where the Government is already struggling with “Take or Pay” contracts in the power sector, you cannot watch your national oil company also enter into another contract, where it will pay for gas pipelines regardless of whether it uses the pipelines or not,” he quipped.
“We refuse to accept a contract in which the country will have to pay capacity charges regardless of whether the GNPC passes gas through the pipelines or not.
“We propose that any agreement that is reached must be one that allows GNPC to pay for the gas it actually passes through the pipelines, and that is the position of IMANI and ACEP,” he added.
