From SpyGhana
A former Attorney General under the erstwhile Kufuor administration has partly supported a $12 million judgement debt handed US firm Balkan Energy against the government of Ghana.
Ayikoi Otoo says under the “quantum merit principle” Balkan Energy is entitled to be paid for the work they have done.
“They are working on a principle called quantum merit. If the people have worked for you to a certain extent but they did not conclude it but there is evidence that they have worked then they are entitled to be paid how much they have worked,” Ayikoi Otoo explained in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story.
Balkan was awarded a $12 million judgement debt by the International Court of Arbitration in a case they brought against the government of Ghana.
He was quick to add that Ghana still has the Osagyefo Barge which should be of interest to Ghana.
In July 2007, the government of Ghana entered a 20-year lease agreement with the company, Balkan Energy Ghana, to refurbish and operate the power barge, initially using diesel fuel and later using gas to be delivered by the West African Gas Pipeline.
Balkan Energy promised to begin operations within 90 days after the lease agreement had been signed. They were also expected to increase the barge’s generating capacity by 60 MW, bringing it from its current capacity of 125 MW up to 185 MW.
The company failed to honour its obligations, forcing the government of Ghana to proceed to court to annul the contract.
Ghana’s Supreme Court ruled that the contract entered into by Balkan was null and void because it was not approved by Parliament.
Per Ghana’s laws, all international agreements had to be approved by the country’s law making body.
Not impressed with the decision by the Supreme Court Balkan Energy went to the Court of Arbitration with a suit of $3 billion compensation and $40 million of the contract value against Ghana for a wrongful abrogation of a contract it entered into with the government of Ghana to manage the 125 MW Osagyefo Badge.
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