The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) is calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of all those involved in the scandalous Private Sector Participation (PSP) of the Power Distribution Services (PDS) to manage the Electricity Company of Ghana.
In a statement issued shortly after the PDS deal was cancelled on the Midnight of November 19, 2019, COPEC charged that all public and government officials “so connected either directly or remotely to this fraudulent PDS deal be made to suffer all such consequences”.
It turned out that following the massive controversy surrounding the PDS deal, President Nana Akufo-Addo was forced to meet with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Chief Executive Sean Cairncros and an agreement to terminate the deal was reached.
According to COPEC, “Conditions that should ordinarily be met before the handing over of our ECG were obviously subverted and overlooked by the very people tasked with protecting the public purse.”
COPEC was shocked that despite the Akufo Addo administration suspending PDS in June 2019, It still continued its mandate under the concession agreement
“PDS has since been managing the assets and workforce of our ECG without anyone answering any questions for the said ‘fraud’ said to have been perpetrated on the government and people of Ghana,”
COPEC has given the government a 14-days ultimatum to audit and surcharge for any financial losses occasioned by the concession agreement and findings communicated publicly.
The PDS deal broke down when it turned out that the Ghanaian shareholders believed to be cronies and friends of the Akufo Addo administration did not bring the US$ 490 million required as pre-condition for the contract.
The only payment guarantee they secured from a reinsurance company in Qatar turned out to have been fraudulently acquired.