The Minority leader in Parliament, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu has grilled the Deputy Minister-designate for Energy, Mr. Andrew Egyapa Mercer at the vetting session. Mr. Haruna Iddrisu was interested in knowing the reasons behind the government’s decision to terminate the agreement of the Power Distribution Services (PDS).
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu indicates that the entire agreement boarded on fraud and the government must be bold in telling Ghanaians the truth. Mr. Andrew Egyapa Mercer had already defended the agreement and indicated that the entire issue bordering on the PDS brouhaha has to do with misrepresentation and that cannot be equaled to fraud.
But Mr. Haruna Iddrisu argued that once a representation is false, then the entire agreement is fraudulent. He believes the word fraud is a matter of semantics and Andrew Egyapa Mercer can decide to provide all the nice definitions but there was fraud in the agreement.
“It is assumed that fraud cannot be predicated on truth therefore if a representation is untrue, then it is fraudulent. And if a representation is false, it will amount to contractual law, leading to a fraudulent misrepresentation which becomes the basis of the government of Ghana, wanting to vitiate the contract with PDS. So the question of semantics, you can choose to have issues with the word fraud but it is the case”. Mr. Haruna Iddrisu indicated.
In response, Mr. Andrew Egyapa Mercer revealed that the government of Ghana was right in terminating the agreement. He indicates that he agrees with Haruna Iddrisu’s clarifications. He adds that in the initial stages of the appointment termination, he disagreed with the then minister, Mr. Peter Amewu who argued that the agreement was fraudulent.
“I agree with your elucidation of misrepresentation and the fact that misrepresentation could be fraudulent. Without sounding repetitive, at the time that I disagreed with the minister, I felt it was too early because no facts had been established at that point but subsequently when it turned out that the investigation had led to a certain outcome, the government of Ghana was right in its wisdom to terminate the agreement”. He noted.
But Mr. Haruna Iddrisu insisted that Mr. Andrew Egyapa Mercer has the right to hold his views. “You can hold your view but the truth of the matter is that there was a misrepresentation by one of the parties and that is why the matter is in court”. He noted.
