PDS PART 2 Time Bomb Brews -As US forces Gov’t To Cancel Fraudulent PDS deal

Hardly has the tide subsided around the midnight termination of the Power Distribution Services (PDS) management deal with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) than Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta raised eyebrows saying the replacement would be selected through a restrictive tender method.

 “…in view of the limited time (approximately two years) until the expiration of the Compact II Program, Ghana hereby recommends the adoption by the MCC/MiDA of a restricted tender process to replace PDS. This restricted tender process shall be undertaken timeously by fast-tracking some of the processes without compromising the integrity and transparency of the procurement processes,” stated the accompanying letter written by Ken Ofori-Atta to explain details of the PDS deal termination.

Critics have warned that the curious case of attempting restrictive tendering for the management of the GHC 20 billion worth ECG is another potential controversy waiting to happen, given the not-so-innocent record of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) when it comes granting multi-million-cedi contracts through restrictive tenders.

Several of its officials, including the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) Adjenim Boateng Adjei have been exposed given mouth-watering contracts to friends and political cronies through restrictive tendering.

Incidentally, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta himself was fingered in the PDS deal reportedly trying to clandestinely supplant a curious shareholder to act as a special purpose vehicle to the three main Ghanaian shareholders of the PDS deal.

Three Ghanaian businesses own 51% majority shares in the PDS, namely:  GTS Power Limited has 10%, Santa Power Limited has 13% and TG Energy Solutions Limited has 28%. 

However, on March 27, 2019, Ken Ofori-Atta wrote to the Chairman of the Negotiation Committee of ECG-Private Sector Participation (PSP), Mr. Akoto Ampaw asking him to fuse all the Ghanaian shareholders of ECG together in a controversial move that insider tell Whatsup News was the bane of the collapse of the PDS deal.

 “In other to safeguard the Ghanaian ownership of PDS and to ensure that control of PDS is secured with Ghanaians in a unified manner, the Ministry requires that the Ghanaian Shareholding is consolidated and held by a single newly incorporated Ghanaian entity (SPV),” Ken Ofori –Atta wrote to Mr. Apaw.

There were speculations from insiders that that SPV would have been fronted by one Oteng Gyasi, a close associate of Mr. Ofori-Atta and a former Energy Minister.

Insiders also claimed Philip Ayesu of TG Energy (the majority Ghanaian shareholder) was infuriated by plans by the Finance Minister to shrink his company’s 28 % in PDS to a paltry 4% while, Oteng Gyasi’s entity carves out a whopping 30% for itself.

In August 2019, procurement expert Kobina Ata-Bedu chided the Finance Minister for trying to clandestinely introduce an alien party to the PDS deal, and that this singular attempt led to the collapse of talks among shareholders in the scandalous deal.

In the PDS deal, the United States Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) as part of its latest compact with Ghana was pledged US$ 500 million for private management of ECG. The contract required a foreign company and local partner who would collectively match the US funds with an additional US$ 490 million.

A Filipino Energy Company called Meralco won the contract as the foreign interest, while the three Ghanaian companies made up the local component.

However, it turned out that these companies did not bring a dime onto the table. The payment guarantee they secured from a Qatar based reinsurance company was found out to have been procured fraudulently.

This forced the government to suspend the deal and after damning forensic investigations, the deal was terminated on the Midnight of November 19, 2019.