PDS scandal: Heads must roll – Former NPP MP
A former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Obuasi East in the Ashanti Region, Edward Ennin has asked the Nana Addo -led government not to shield anyone who is found involved in the fraudulent PDS deal.
According to him, the ineffectiveness of some government officials to perform due diligence in the Power Distribution Service (PDS) agreement is likely to cause the nation huge sums of money.
“The president must punish all those involved in this fraudulent deal, he must not shield anybody, the truth must be told, we can’t lose close to $190 million for nothing, some people must be punished for this” he said.
Edward Ennin said, he advised some members of government against Ghana’s agreement with Meridian Power Ventures.
“I told the NPP about the fraudulent deal because I had done my checks on Meridian, I knew they were not that sound, we cannot lose that huge sum of money, some people need to be punished, the finance and energy ministry and whoever is involved must answer for this.
BACKGROUND
PDS was the first private company to manage the affairs of ECG after Ghana won the Power Compact II that will inject some $900 million into power distribution.
The decision according to the government was taken following the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) which was discovered upon “further due diligence.”
“The Demand Guarantees were key prerequisites for the lease of assets on 1st March 2019 to secure the assets that were transferred to the concessionaire,” a statement signed by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stated.
Power Distribution Service (PDS) has denied wrongdoing in its concession agreement with the government through the Ministry of Finance.
In 2014, as part of the conditions that the government needed to satisfy in order to access a second Millennium Challenge Compact, christened the Ghana Power Compact, private participation in the management of Ghana’s debt-ridden energy sector was mooted. The Compact II would see Ghana receive $498.2 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States to advance economic growth and reduce poverty in Ghana.
According to the Millennium Development Authority, MiDA, the supervising agency of the MCC Compact, the power compact was to, “directly support the energy sector strategic objectives to achieve power supply sufficiency including exports to neighboring countries, and also supply power for new oil and gas-based industries.”
The John Mahama government announced the decision to, under the Compact II agreement, enter into a concessional agreement where a private company would take over the management of the largest power distributor in the southern part of the country, the Electricity Company of Ghana. The announcement was however met with resistance despite strenuous clarification and explanation by the government that the strategic national asset was being privatized. The workers of ECG held several public fora and protested the decision, arguing that if the government paid its debts to the power distributor and made the necessary investments, the company was capable of paying its supplies and proving viable.