The firing of Mr. Boakye Agyarko by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, following the controversial renegotiation of the AMERI contract, is likely to set in motion a snowball of give-and-take, and possibly open a can of worms in the coming days.
In a Facebook post attributed to him, the sacked Energy Minister promised the general public he would break his silence over the catalogue of negative reportage he had had in the last two weeks and his subsequent dismissal by the president.
“When the dust settles, my side would be heard. Thank you”, the message said, indicating Ghanaians could expect some sort of a ‘showdown’ in the not too distant future.
Emails
Forty-three minutes after the dismissal of Mr. Agyarko, Nana Oppong Damoah, the Public Relations Officer of the Energy Ministry took to Facebook to register his displeasure.
Although, the paper cannot independently confirm the authorship of the post, he is quoted as having written “it’s time for the emails. Let’s play. He is to blame abi? He did it alone right? Ok.”
Sack
Agyarko was on Monday August 6, 2018 fired over reports that he ‘misled’ the President in approving the new AMERI deal agreement.
In a statement issued and signed by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, it said: “The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has, by letter, dated 6th August, 2018, relieved the Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko, of his position, with immediate effect.”
Though the statement failed to give reasons for his dismissal, reports indicate that it was related to the renegotiated AMERI deal which many described as “stinky”.
Over the weekend, there were calls for the president to dismiss the Minister of Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko and all those involved who might have misled the presidency.
Letters circulating of social media, which were said to have been written by AMERI Energy, claimed AMERI had no knowledge of the new agreement.
According to the letters, AMERI said it was not involved in any discussion with the Energy Ministry on renegotiating or amending the power deal signed in 2015.
There were also claims that stakeholders like the Ministry of Finance and Attorney-General’s Department were not adequately involved in the supposed new deal.
VRA Staff Happy
While Ghanaians await the response from the former minister, reports are that there is wild jubilation by the senior staff of the Volta River Authority (VRA) over the president’s swift action.
Speaking Monday on Adom FM’s flagship political talk show Burning Issues, Chairman of the Senior Staff Association in Takoradi, Charles Owusu Sekyere, said the dismissal of Boakye Agyarko is also timely.
“The documents Agyarko submitted to Parliament [do not support his] claims that the renegotiation deal will benefit the nation and we’re very fine and happy that we have a listening President who has adhered to our call to dismiss the sector minister,” Owusu Sekyere stressed.
“The renegotiation deal presented by the minister to Parliament is misleading and bad for the country,” he added.
In a related development, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) Ghana has demanded the prosecution of Agyarko over the matter.
<<Print>>