Ghana: I’m Deeply Disappointed In Prez. Akufo-Addo For Terminating PDS Concession– Mahama

A former President of the Republic of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, has expressed his disappointment in the Akufo-Addo led administration over its decision to terminate the concessionaire agreement signed between Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Meralco led Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited.

The John Dramani Mahama led National Democratic Congress administration signed the Ghana Power Compact II with Millennium Challenge Corporation(MCC) in 2014 to introduce Private Sector Participation in the distribution business of ECG.

In a post on his Facebook timeline, Mr Mahama indicated that the PDS termination was needless and could have been avoided by government.

He stated, “… a decision by the MCC [Millennium Challenge Corporation] to withdraw $190 million from the Compact funding. It’s a sad day for us all. This money was meant to improve the efficiency of our electricity utility corporation.”

“Let me emphasise that, all these shady happenings were avoidable if the right decisions, with the future development of Ghana in mind, were taken, and not parochial decisions that reflect the sad and worsening situation of state capture that we are experiencing under Akufo-Addo,” the post read further.

Background

Government late last week announced its intention to terminate the PDS Contract, months after it claimed that it had detected fundamental and material  breeches in the PDS deal.

The termination  follows a meeting between Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to President Akufo-Addo, and Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister on one hand, and Kyeh Kim, Principal Deputy Vice President of MCC, and Kenneth Miller, the Resident Country Director-Ghana of the MCC, on the other hand, held in Washington DC on Friday, October 18, 2019.

Critics have chastised Government for not acting in the best interest of Ghana in the negotiation, and signing of the power concession.

But Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, briefing journalists in Accra on Wednesday, October 23, said the Government of Ghana has never been negligent.

According to him, the Government of Ghana has at all times worked with Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in structuring this transaction in the best interest of Ghanaians.

Read below Mahama’s full post.

Soon, I will be sharing my position on the state of our struggling nation with the good people of Ghana. But allow me to say that as someone who took over from President JEA Mills of blessed memory and the Ghana Compact 2 negotiations with the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the US Government, I am deeply disappointed in Nana Akufo-Addo for his handling of the Compact.

Fellow Ghanaians, we are all deeply disappointed because of the self-serving decisions that were taken, the deliberate acts perpetuated with the crude support of the Flagstaff House in the ECG Concessionaire Agreement that has led us to where we are today. This was absolutely needless and could have been avoided.

I have just noted a decision by the MCC to withdraw $190 million from the Compact funding. It’s a sad day for us all. This money was meant to improve the efficiency of our electricity utility corporation.

Let me emphasise that, all these shady happenings were avoidable if the right decisions, with the future development of Ghana in mind, were taken, and not parochial decisions that reflect the sad and worsening situation of state capture that we are experiencing under Akufo-Addo.

Source:www.energynewsafrica.com