Member of Parliament (MP) for Yapei-Kusawgu, John Jinapor, has accused the Akufo-Addo led administration of deliberately altering a power distribution agreement between the government of Ghana and the Power Distribution Services (PDS) in order to pass on contracts to party members.
He says the move by the NPP government is what has led to the rather “embarassing” suspension of the agreement between the government of Ghana and PDS.
“Another Boakye Agyarko-Akufo Addo-AMERI-like deal has been visited on Ghanaians by this corrupt and insensitive government with the award of ECG to cronies. How can Akufo-Addo’s government be so cruel to Ghanaians and ECG – a strategic state institution with a workforce of 6,000 and assets worth 22 billion Ghana cedis? This insensitivity, cruelty and greed must be thoroughly investigated and punished because they were cautioned and they failed to heed such wise council,” John Jinapor said at a press conference on Thursday.
What is even more intriguing, the former Deputy Minister emphasized, is the fact that it has taken the current government over 150 days to determine the authenticity or otherwise of a contentious document that has now led to the suspension of the power distribution contract.
He says standard practice dictates just 48 hours to conduct any meaningful due diligence of such nature.
Mr. Jinapor argues that the Ministries of Finance and Energy were privy to the agreement that the Guarantee was fake but decided not to act on the anomaly for reasons best known to them.
“Why would public officials rush to push ECG to hand over its precious assets worth 22 billion Ghana Cedis to PDS without ensuring that critical preconditions and clauses in the agreement are met?” he questioned.
The NDC Minority in Parliament, he observed, had opposed the deal from the very start and raised several concerns – none of which was taken seriously by the government.
“Notwithstanding the Minority’s earlier cautions, reservations and concerns, very characteristics of the NPP, they refused to accept our wise council,” he said.
John Jinapor is calling on government to terminate the concession agreement with immediate effect as well as identify and prosecute all parties involved in what he describes as a sham.
Ghana signed the Power Compact II with the United States of America on 5th August, 2014 through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on the side lines of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC.
This project was expected to significantly improve access to electricity for Ghanaians, reduce financial leakages and enhance profitability of the company.