Akufo-Addo held secret meetings with MCC in US – Asiedu Nketia alleges

General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia has alleged that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo held not less than three meetings with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the US.

But he stated that the outcome of those meetings were kept away from the good people of Ghana.

Addressing journalists in Accra on Thursday, October 17, Mr Asiedu Nketia said the meeting was to soothe the otherwise damning consequences of the allocation of the power compact that saw the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) taken over by the Power Distribution Services (PDS) in a deal that was later suspended.

The NDC scribe said after his return from the US meetings, President Akufo-Addo charged the Energy Minister, John-Peter Amewu, and his deputies as well as leadership of ECG to hold meetings with Manila Electric Company, popularly known as Meralco, over the botched deal.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said he found it ironical for the Energy Minister to accept the offer to travel to the Philippines to meet a company he had described as “fraudulent” at the peak of the controversy that surrounded the suspension of the PDS deal.

He said the NDC has been astounded by the emergence of a new company, Meridian Power Ventures, which is claiming a 30 per cent stake in PDS.

According to him, this can only be the result of a secret transaction that neither Parliament nor Ghanaians as a whole know about.

“This shows that our constitution has been trampled upon,” he said in Akan.

He demanded that the Akufo-Addo-led government should immediately explain to Ghanaians how come Hong Kong-based Meridian Power Ventures has taken over from Philippines-based Meralco to the extent that the former is calling on foreign shareholders to hold an emergency board meeting.

The NDC gave not only the president but also Vice President Dr Mahumudu Bawumia, Energy Minister Amewu and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta 24 hours to explain to Ghanaians the emergence of Meridian Power Ventures, a company Mr Asiedu alleged was registered just four months ago.