…Former Energy Commission Chairman
A former Chairman of the Energy Commission, Dr. Kwame Ampofo, has alleged that President Nana Akufo-Addo is the main kingpin behind the Power Distribution Services dubious concession deal and that the suspension of the contract had been a shrewd move to save himself from being exposed as the grand fraudster behind the deal.
In a write-up, Dr. Ampofo said, the President, by a carefully executed cover story, has succeeded in making Ghanaians believe that he was fighting the PDS fraud, but has in plain sight, since succeeded in putting the same PDS back in charge of Ghana’s power distribution.
“Indeed, on the surface, the singular act of suspension of the concession agreement with PDS would adequately fool the casual observer and the masses, as it effectively paints a picture of a “tough”, “no-nonsense” President, who had just discovered that some very, very dirty deals were being perpetrated behind his back to steal the people’s valuable asset (ECG) for the selfish benefit of only those few individuals behind the PDS.
“However, upon careful scrutiny of the intriguing issues involved in the deal and the chronology of related events, prior to the suspension announcement, leads us to actually make the inference that the “suspension” action was actually faked to divert attention from the fact that the President was fully aware of what went on in the PDS deal. The suspension action had to be quickly taken, as unfolding events preceding the announcement were leading to the likely exposure of the unholy deal and the likelihood of letting the “cat out of the bag” and lay bare to the public the truth about the scam. As they say, emerging events were casting their shadows and the President saw the dark clouds fast gathering so he quickly took the action to protect himself,” Dr. Ampofo wrote.
He points out that, after the government had hurriedly suspended the 25 year concession agreement with PDS, PDS is somehow back in charge of electricity distribution.
PDS is still in charge of power distribution, he points out, even though it has since emerged that, the consortium never fulfilled its obligation to provide a Demand Guarantee as precondition for the contract and was actually collecting proceeds from distribution of power by the ECG to pay off that Demand guarantee, rather than power producers.
“The facts of the matter are that over the four months or so after PDS took over the functions of ECG on March 1st, 2019, things had not been well with the power supply industry, as a whole. PDS had consistently failed to meet its financial obligations to the bulk producers of power (VRA and the IPPs) and the system operator (GRIDCO), who together, constitute the value chain for the supply of the power that PDS sslls to consumers. Naturally, the power producers and the transmission utility begun to agitate against PDS for non-payment of power already supplied to it for onward sales to consumers. This situation arose because instead of paying the utilities in the value chain, described above, PDS was using the proceeds of power sales to pay for the Demand Guarantee, required under the concession agreement (something it should have done before taking over the national assets of ECG). This fact is adequately reported in the media (i.e. Daily Guide Newspaper of Monday, September 9, 2019 (front page and page 3), under the caption: PDS “Milks” ECG to pay $12 million guarantee),” Dr. Ampofo wrote.
He points out that, “Since that action by government against PDS, a number of activities, events and actions that are going on in the power distribution market, indicates quite clearly that PDS never got suspended, in the real sense of the word, but is rather still very much in control of that mandate to distribute power in Ghana, in place of ECG. For example, the company has put out several public notices to customers with regards to services and supply of power to this day. The company has also continues to issue bills and collect payments from consumers for the months of August and September, even though the suspension is supposed to be still in force, having taken effect from the 30th of July, 2019.”
According to the former Energy Commission Chair, the PDS current status as the consortium in charge of Ghana’s power distribution, in spite of the fact that its contract has been suspended, is evidence that President Akufo-Addo only took Ghanaians on a merry go-round.
“Government just took us all on wild “merry-go-round” by announcing the suspension and then going behind us and getting other government agencies (EC and ECG) to take up the responsibility of giving back the distribution and sales mandate to the supposedly suspended entity. This way, government’s real intention (protecting the PDS deal involving the family and friends) is concealed.
“So, is it surprising that the Board Chairman of the PDS, Mr. Philip Ayensu, confidently declared that the outcome of the investigation commissioned by the government would clear them of any wrongdoing? (Daily Guide, Tuesday, August 6, 2019, page 3) Actually, we believe in Mr. Philip Ayensu’s assertion because he knows very well what “the game plan” is.
“The President has used this game plan so frequently (without variation) that we are all now very familiar with this sly modus operandi of the President, which is: first, feign innocence of a scandal, second, suspend the individual (or entity) involved in the reported offence, then later clear that corrupt culprit of any wrongdoing. A few examples out of the many corruption cases could help to establish the pattern of the President’s actions on corruption and to confirm that, truly there exists a “game plan” and that it is real.”
Dr. Ampofo listed the Australia Visa scandal, over which Deputy Sports Minister, Pius Hadzide who was alleged to have been in charge of a visa racketeering ring that helped party people to impersonate journalists in Australia, was later cleared.
He also listed the BOST Scandal involving the fraudulent sale of 5million litres of contaminated fuel, over which Mr. Alfred Obeng, the then CEO of BOST, was immediately suspended, and then after CID investigations, was cleared.
“The Galamsay Bribery Scandal…. in a similar fashion, Mr. Charles Bissiw (the culprit), was also suspended, then an investigation into his case was ordered by the President. As it always ends, Mr. Bissiw was later cleared and finally reinstated,” Dr. Ampfo wrote.
He added that, “Clearly, there is a “method to the madness” and “the game plan” is, indeed, a well-rehearsed script.”