The Ministry of Energy has refuted claims made by the Minority in Parliament that the ‘GNPC-LITASCO’ re-financing arrangement is being done in secrecy without parliamentary approval.
This comes after the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, John Jinapor in a statement alleged that government seeks to contract the facility using GNPC without the necessary approvals.
But the Ministry of Energy in a rebuttal issued on September 22, 2023 described the move the Minority “as a calculated attempt to sully the reputation of government” for what they say is political reasons.
It clarified that the GNPC-LITASCO’ re-financing arrangement has gone through various processes and is yet to be sent to parliament when the house reconvenes in October this year.
“It is important to state that, this particular facility the minority mischievously makes allusion to is being re-financed for the sixth time. In the 2023 Work Programme of the GNPC, the corporation indicated clearly, their intentions to raise $620million from the LITASCO facility to finance their work programme and proceeded to obtain the necessary parliamentary approval including the refinancing of the loan” the statement said.
It continued “Now, GNPC settled on the terms and conditions of this facility with LITASCO just last week Thursday, September 14, 2023, duly obtaining its Board’s approval. The record will show, that on the same day, the document was sent to the Ministry of Energy for a “no objection”. After the Ministry of Energy expressed its no objection, it then forwarded the document to the Ministry of Finance for its ‘no objection” and approval too, in line with the dictates of the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA). MOF’s approval was given on Friday, September, 15, 2023.”
The Energy Minister further questioned why the Minority Ranking Member and the Minority group in general would allege wrongdoing while Parliament is yet to be make a decision on the agreement.
“The only possible reason one can larch unto for the minority’s action is to cause disaffection for government for possible electoral gains, given the proximity to the electioneering campaign season” it said.
The Ministry however called on the general public to ignore the inaccurate claims made by the Minority in parliament and treat it with contempt.