The Minister of Energy, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, popularly called ‘Napo’, has responded to Ghana Gas Senior Staff Association’s protest against him regarding his commitment to the construction of a second state-owned Gas Processing Plant and the entire indigenisation drive of the sector.
The workers of Ghana Gas expressed disquiet about the way the Minister is handling the issue of the concurrent existence of Genser Energy Ghana Limited’s (GEGL/Genser) Gas Conditioning Plant and Ghana Gas’ Gas Processing Plant Train 2.
“Ghana Gas is 100% owned by the state whiles Genser is known to have about 90% of its shares being owned by foreigners. It is also known that Genser repatriates over 80% of its revenue to South Africa. Therefore, it baffles the minds of workers of Ghana Gas for any Minister of State to do the bidding of Genser at the expense of a state-owned company. It is worthy to note that Ghana Gas derives its obligation to construct a second Gas Processing Plant from the 2022 President’s State of the Nation Address. The President was emphatic that Ghana Gas will be building a second Gas Processing Plant with a higher capacity than the existing Gas Processing Plant,” a statement by them said.
But the Minister has refuted the claims saying “this matter is being investigated by the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Energy. The Ministry is mindful of the legal consequences of discussing same in those circumstances. The President of the Republic further referred the matter to the Ministry, the Petroleum Commission, and the Energy Commission for investigations. A report in this respect has been delivered to His Excellency the President”.
“The Minister wishes to state emphatically that; a) neither he, nor anyone else acting on behalf of the Ministry has signed any contract with GENSER, b) the only contracts signed with Genser on record are by GNGC and GNPC. This contract between GENSER & GNGC predates the Minister’s tenure at the Ministry of Energy and was signed on behalf of the GNGC by Dr. Ben Asante, its CEO and the Ministry duly informed”, he added.
Read full statement below
