Godfred Dame, Attorney General and Minister for Justice designate
The Executive Director for Think Tank Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, has expressed disappointment in Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, over the $170 million judgment debt slapped on the country for terminating an energy agreement between the government and Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC).
Dame has threatened to lodge a formal complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to probe the Power Purchasing Agreement signed between the erstwhile NDC government and GPGC.
The AG said a report by a committee constituted in September 2016 revealed that the agreement was not properly made resulting in excessive power supply which led to the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government terminating the contract.
Reacting to the issue on Dwaboase on Power 97.9 FM Mensah Thompson slammed the AG for his posture and indicated that he should have rather pursued the matter to save the country money on the court where he had the chance to mount a strong defence for the government of Ghana.
“Godfred Dame has no legal locus to report public officials who signed the GPGC contract to CID,” he stated and explained that the government was doing that to cover its shame.
The verdict
A three-member arbitration tribunal chaired by John Beechey, a former President of the International Criminal Court’s Court of Arbitration, and co-chaired by Prof Albert Fiadjoe, a Ghanaian academic, sided with the power producer and awarded a judgment debt of almost US$170 million against the state, following the termination the contract.
According to British law, the government had 28 days to challenge the tribunal’s decision but only made an appearance three days to the expiration of the deadline to ask for a 56-day extension.
However, the court set March 8, 2021, for the Government to file the processes to challenge the Tribunal’s decision in January. But again, the government went to sleep until April 1, 2021, before filing.
Another British law firm, Volterra Fietta, that the government had instructed to begin the process explained that the new Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, had only been sworn in on March 5, and the firm received the directive to represent Ghana 10 days later.
But ruling on the matter on June 8, 2021, the court had no sympathies. It said the excuses were unreasonable and “intrinsically weak.”