US gov’t pulling out of PDS deal is the right thing to do- Sammy Gyamfi

The National Comunication Officer of the opposition, National Democratic Congress, (NDC) Sammy Gyamfi has said emphatically that the United State government is doing right by withdrawing its $190million equivalent to GHC1billion worth deal in the fraudulent PDS agreement.

According to him, the Akufo Addo government should be blame for the lost Ghana has suffered because members of his government clandestinely sold shares in the PDS agreement to their cronies.

“Government’s failure to conduct the necessary due diligence on the supposed Insurance guarantee which was provided by PDS before handing-over the GHS22 Billion assets of ECG to them, Hence, it is clear that the Akufo-Addo government through its criminal negligence, greed and avarice caused this problem in the first place and must be blamed for the financial loss of $190 million (GHS1 Billion) that Ghana has suffered.” He said.

The Communication Director is convinced, the move by the US government is as a result of the Finance Minister’s letter to nicodemously restructure the Ghanaian shareholding in PDS for the benefit of his cronies, even before the PDS concession was suspended.

“The US government is aware of Ken Ofori-Atta’s letter of 27th March, 2019 which sought to nicodemously restructure the Ghanaian shareholding in PDS for the benefit of his cronies, even before the PDS concession was suspended.”

“ The US government is also aware of President Akufo-Addo’s secret trip to Angola to meet with one of the foreign shareholders of PDS, namely AEnergia SA, and, another secret trip by a large government delegation led by Peter Amewu to the Philippines to meet with Meralco, all being shareholders of PDS which government had earlier cited for fraud.”

“The fact is, the Americans don’t have any trust for the Akufo-Addo government. They have always known of the underhand dealings and manoeuvrings of top government officials to appropriate the Ghanaian shareholding in PDS for themselves through their family and friends. They don’t trust the motives of the Akufo-Addo government because of the duplicity displayed by the Akufo-Addo government in this PDS scandal.” He said.

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My heart bleeds for Ghana. *

Indeed, it is true like the NDC has held all along, that there were fundamental problems with the PDS concession.

1. The demand guarantee provided by PDS was incompetent and couldn’t be relied upon by Ghana in case of default.

But who is to blame for this problem? Who caused it?

According to page 8 of the FTI report, this problem arose as a result of:

• the decision of Dr. Bawumia, Ken Ofori Atta and MIDA to water down the precondition of a Bank guarantee into an Insurance Guarantee at a meeting at the Jubilee House on 19th February, 2019 as captured on page 8 of the FTI report.
• government’s failure to conduct the necessary due diligence on the supposed Insurance guarantee which was provided by PDS before handing-over the GHS22 Billion assets of ECG to them.

*Hence, it is clear that the Akufo-Addo government through its criminal negligence, greed and avarice caused this problem in the first place and must be blamed for the financial loss of $190 million (GHS1 Billion) that Ghana has suffered.

2. Also, we still maintain that it was wrong for the Akufo-Addo government to have allowed the original shareholders (Meralco, Santa Baron Ventures etc.) to form and transfer their respective shares to SPVs with the intent of escaping any future risk or liability.
3. *It must be noted that it was the Minister of Energy, Peter Amewu who first alleged fraud on the part of PDS relative to the supposed insurance guarantee they provided. Hence, on the basis of Amewu’s own allegation of fraud against PDS, the NDC called for the termination of the PDS deal because FRAUD VITIATES ALL. And we still stand by that. Our position hasn’t changed.*
4. But the question is; why was the Akufo-Addo government unable to carry the Americans along? Why were they unable to convince the Americans of the fraud which was alleged by Amewu? The Americans don’t have any interest in PDS. So why were they pushing for the restoration of the PDS concession. The answer is very simple.

*The fact is, the Americans don’t have any trust for the Akufo-Addo government. They have always known of the underhand dealings and manoeuvrings of top government officials to appropriate the Ghanaian shareholding in PDS for themselves through their family and friends. They don’t trust the motives of the Akufo-Addo government because of the duplicity displayed by the Akufo-Addo government in this PDS scandal. For instance:

* The US government is aware of Ken Ofori-Atta’s letter of 27th March, 2019 which sought to nicodemously restructure the Ghanaian shareholding in PDS for the benefit of his cronies, even before the PDS concession was suspended.

* The US government is also aware of President Akufo-Addo’s secret trip to Angola to meet with one of the foreign shareholders of PDS, namely AEnergia SA, and, another secret trip by a large government delegation led by Peter Amewu to the Philippines to meet with Meralco, all being shareholders of PDS which government had earlier cited for fraud.

* How could the Akufo-Addo government after alleging fraud on the part of PDS secretly travel to meet with the very people they had accused of fraud at the expense of the poor Ghanaian taxpayer? Why was government secretly negotiating to maintain the foreign partners of PDS (Meralco and AEnergia SA) which it had accused of fraud, but was hellbent on getting rid of the local partners?

* These acts of duplicity and underhand dealings on the part of the Akufo-Addo government are the reason why the Americans failed to come along. The US government knew that our government was only seeking to profit from the challenges in the PDS concession which challenges they themselves caused. They knew that the actions of the Akufo-Addo government were motivated by selfish ulterior motives and not the national interest, nor the interest of the Power Compact.

* This is why the Americans wanted the restoration and rectification of the PDS concession despite the several challenges with the deal.

* Can anyone blame the Americans for taking this position? Emphatically No. The Americans weren’t the problem. The problem was the criminal negligence, selfishness and greed of the Akufo-Addo government which occasioned the mistrust of the Americans for Ghana.

4. *Now the long and short of this matter is, Ghana has lost a whopping US$190 million (GHS 1 Billion) equivalent to 10 trillion old cedis due to the criminal negligence and selfishness of the Akufo-Addo government.* Ghana also stands to lose the Regional Compact (Compact 3) and several millions of dollars from the American government and the World Bank.

* So, you see, President Kufour and John Mahama earned for Ghana Compact 1 ($350 million) and Compact 2 ($498 million) respectively, through good governance. But, the corrupt, extremely selfish and greedy Akufo-Addo and his cohorts have caused Ghana a direct financial loss of $190 million among others.

* Where did Ama Ghana go wrong to deserve all this from President Akufo-Addo? Ghanaians must never forgive President Akufo-Addo for this huge financial loss and international disgrace. And Posterity will never forgive him for this either. This PDS embarrassment will forever hang on our necks as far as Ghana-US relations and Ghana’s international image are concerned.

Today is really a sad day. My heart bleeds for Ghana.

*Comrade Sammy Gyamfi Esq.*