‘You Will Not Be Attorney General Forever’ – Jinapor To Godfred Dame

Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee, John Jinapor has stated that threats by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, on signatories to the terminated agreement between the Government of Ghana (GoG) and Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) will not help in resolving the issue.

“You can choose to threaten us. You can choose to behave anyway you want because you’re the Attorney General. But let me put this on record to you. You will not be Attorney General forever.

“So please, these issues of John Jinapor, John Jinapor would not help your matter. You advised the Minister to terminate against the committee’s recommendation,” he said.

Mr Jinapor was speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Wednesday, in relation to a judgement Debt of $170 million resulting from the termination of the Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) between the GoG and GPGC.

Mr Dame on Joy FM’s Top Story, Tuesday, blamed the signatories to the agreement, for the $170 million judgement debt that the government of Ghana has been instructed to pay to GPGC, by a Commercial Court in London, for unlawful termination of contract.

“So I think that when it comes to financial loss, it is so clear in my mind that the responsibility lies clearly with those who entered into the agreement. The basic point is that the entry into this transaction was unnecessary. The entry into this transaction was what resulted in financial loss to the state.

“I, on account of all of this, am going to write a formal complaint requesting an enquiry by the CID into the conduct of the public officers who acted in the manner which resulted in the signing of an agreement which resulted in financial loss to the state, ” Mr Dame said.

The Attorney General’s comment was in reaction to an assertion made by Mr. John Jinapor during an interview with Joy FM’s Parliamentary Correspondent, Joseph Opoku Gakpo, which was aired on Joy FM’s Top Story, Tuesday.

“Clearly we could have saved more than US$150 million if this government had listened to good counsel. But the Minister decided that he would cancel it unilaterally and today, the state of Ghana is asked to pay about US$170 million. That is a whopping amount and it is a colossal amount.” he said.

When the two of them were given an opportunity to discuss the issue on the Super Morning Show, Wednesday, Mr Jinapor insisted that the judgement death of $170million was caused by the termination of the agreement and subsequent inability of government representatives to meet deadlines given by the London Commercial Court for filing a challenge to claims made by GPGC.

“The current $170 million, what was the reason for the judgement? You were given a window, and you failed to appear,” he stressed.