High tariffs: Ghanaians paying for shady Ameri deal - MP

Member of Parliament for Obuasi East Constituency in the Ashanti Region, Edward Ennin, has revealed that the recent controversial Ameri deal is major contributory factor to the current outrageous electricity bills being paid by customers.

The AMERI contract enjoins Ghana to pay 510 million dollars for 10 gas turbines over the next five years as part of measures to solve Ghana's power crisis

Speaking to Kwame Adinkra on Atinka AM Drive Thursday, the Obuasi East MP said Ghanaians are paying for the badly negotiated deal, which was widely criticized by Ghanaians.

According to him, it was wrong for government to hire power generating machines at high costs when it could have bought the whole machine at a relatively cheaper cost. "The NDC government prefers renting power to buying a whole machine to generate power for the country which is too costly. This is largely responsible for the current outrageous tariffs and so there is no need to blame the current crisis on sabotage ,” he said.

Edward Enin disclosed that the ECG buys the power from a private firm at a higher cost before it (ECG) adds margins and other taxes and levies to it, thereby inflating the power tariff.

He condemned the MP for Asawase, Mohammed Muntaka, for blaming the high tariffs on supposed saboteurs at ECG and advised government officials to stop the blame game and rather focused their energies on how to solve the problem .