Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has admitted that the Akufo Addo administration has regretted the massive scandal that rocked the Power Distribution Services (PDS) management concession of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
A tearful Oppong-Nkrumah decried how the resultant loss of US$190 million from the American government due to the scandal was painful “Humm…we wish it never transpired that way,” he ruminated on Adom FM in a recent interview.
Government is saddened by the turn of events; losing $190million from the US government due to the termination of the PDS concessionaire agreement, Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said.
“Humm…we wish it never transpired that way,” he told host of Dwaso Nsem Omanhene Kwabena Asante on Adom Fm. “On the other hand, Ghana have lost the $190million, and “In fact the US government has blacklisted Ghana in the application of a regional compact grant of $500million.”
In September 2016, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a Power Agreement (Power Compact) with Ghana to revamp the ailing ECG. The US pledged US$ 500 million and required a private consortium to take up the contract and bring onto the table an additional US$ 490 million.
A consortium called Power Distribution Services (PDS) was formed, comprising Filipino company Meralco and three Ghanaian companies. Since then, a complex web of individuals linked to the ruling government have been linked to the deal to take over Ghana’s power distributor.
However, it emerged that PDS had reportedly secured its payment guarantees for the US$ 490 million fraudulent, despite the massive preferential treatment given it by the Ghanaian government and the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) headed by Dr. Esson Benjamin.
The Akufo Addo administration was forced to suspend the PDS contract late July 2019, and forensic investigations were instituted. The US contracted its side of the investigations to a private company called FTI Consult which claimed no wrongdoing on the part of PDS. However, the Ghanaian government’s investigative team led by Deputy Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame uncovered massive fraud around PDS’ demand guarantee from Qatar based reinsurance company Al Koot.
Whatsup News can confirm that key players that took the decision to hand over the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to PDS are mostly part of the Enterprise Group co-owned by Finance-Minister Ofori-Atta and his long-time friend and business partner Keli Gadzekpo, who was incidentally the Board Chairman of ECG.
Also in the fray is Dr. Martin Esson Benjamin, the Chief Executive of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) that handpicked the questionable Ghanaian majority-owned PDS to take over ECG. Dr. Benjamin is curiously a Director of the Enterprise Group.
A key player in the PDS debacle is Philip Ayesu, PDS’ Board Chairman who known to be a close friend to Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a nephew of President Akufo Addo, who has been fingered for pulling the PDS strings in the background.