The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo has relieved a key member of his cabinet from duty. An official statement was issued Monday evening by the presidency with the instructions to that effect.

Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko was sacked from his post on August 6, 2018. The move from Flagstaff House- the presidency of Ghana, is due to handling of a power deal which the booted minister is believed to have misled his boss.

The Ameri deal, which was brokered by the previous government but the current ruling party, New Patriotic Party (NPP) had vowed to review it during their stint as the opposition, should they win the presidency.

A committee was set up by the NPP government to review the deal, barely a month after taking office in February 2017. The deal was viewed as overpriced at US$150 million and the motion to reverse the deal by way of a legislative fiat was boycotted by the minority party in parliament.

The sacked minister had tabled a revised version of the deal to parliament in July 2018. The president is said to have signed off on it. The new deal, in essence, handed over the execution of the old deal to a different company.

While requesting the honorable minister to present five pertinent documents to a joint parliamentary committee, the new deal was temporarily blocked from approval. When news broke that new deal was bad one altogether, the president call for it to be withdrawn completely.

Speculation swelled among government officials that the energy minister had misled the president and the current deal was going to be revoked. Political pundits were hinting at the minister’s dismissal before it finally happened.

The minister was asked to hand over his duties to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, who will assume the role of Energy minister until a replacement is appointed.

Neba Benson,

BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst