Power Minister did not respond to our enquiries – VG journalist
One of the journalists at the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) which published a story over the weekend that has raised questions about the cost of the AMERI power project in Ghana, says before they published the story, they made attempts to get the reactions of the Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, “but it was difficult, there was no response,” he said.
He said they sent emails and WhatsApp messages to his Press Officer, one Sersah-Johnson but got no responses after the said Sersah-Johnson had promised to send a response.
Speaking to ghanabusinessnews.com on the phone, Amund Bakke Foss, also said their story was straight forward and based on open sources.
He said they looked at the agreement and the report from Parliament which said the cost of equipment was $550 million, and they checked on the market to determine how much Ghana could have saved and they found out the equipment could have cost Ghana $220 million if the country has acquired them directly.
Asked if they stand by their story, Foss said, “Yes. We do.”
When asked about their motivation for doing the story, he said it was because they discovered that Umar Farooq Zahoor a Pakistani-Norwegian who has been on the wanted list of Norway and Switzerland for about 10 years, wanted for fraud and organized crime involving millions of dollars was involved in signing the deal.
Foss has also sent copies of the WhatsAPP messages between him and Sersah-Johnson to ghanabusinessnews.com.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor has issued a press statement denying the facts in the story as published by VG.
When ghanabusinessnews.com reached out to him for further clarification, he said he was in Parliament and couldn’t speak; referring us instead to the press statement which he said covers everything.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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