The Coalition of Stakeholders on Electricity Contracts and Arrangements, has added its voice to accusations of fraud against the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in the PDS/ECG concession agreement.
At a public stakeholders forum in Accra, Wednesday, Richard Nyamah, the forum’s convener, said MiDA had used fraudulent means to get stakeholders to do its bidding.
In its quest to get its bidding done, Mr. Nyamah told the forum that “MiDA wrote letters purporting to come from stakeholders in the energy sector such as the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission and Energy Commission to the IFC to have its concerns in selecting a concessionaire for the ECG. These letters were denied by the respective institutions.”
The government of Ghana made a shocking announcement last week, declaring it had suspended a concessionaire agreement with a consortium called Power Distribution Service (PDS) for thirty days.
The PDS had been responsible for managing the retail, and distribution business of the electricity company of Ghana since March this year.
The government cited material breaches in securing insurance guarantee as the basis for the suspension of the deal.
This is not the first time the reputation of MiDA, the body which is responsible for managing the process of getting a concessionaire for the ECG, has been impugned.
Earlier, the boss of the African Centre for Energy Policy, Benjamin Boakye told Joy FM that MiDA failed to select a company with the needed credibility to raise money to manage electricity in the country.
“If we could not raise bank guarantees how can we raise capital investment,” Benjamin Boakye questioned on the Super Morning Show, Friday.
On his part, the Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), questioned the process that gave 51% majority shares of Power Distribution Service to Ghanaians.
Dr. Steve Manteaw said, Santa Baron Ventures Ghana, TG Energy Solution Ghana, GTS Engineering Ghana Limited and TBK Ghana Limited were not evaluated before being picked to hold majority shares.
Speaking Tuesday, on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Dr. Steve Manteaw said the crisis PDS is currently battling with, only goes to show that the majority shareholders lack the capacity to manage an investment as huge as the Electricity Company of Ghana.
COSECA’s convenor said at the forum that had it not been thrown out of court as far back as 2016 when the group first raised these issues, Ghana and the fortunes of the Electricity of Ghana, would not be where it is today.
Following the foregoing, Richard Nyamah, the convenor of COSECA called for the Director of MiDA, Martin Eson-Benjamin to proceed on leave while investigations are extended to MiDA’s role in the current crisis.
This will ensure that investigations and evidence are not tempered with.