PDS Deal: Government lied to Ghanaians - Lawyer Tamakloe alleges

Private legal practitioner and a member of the NDCs communication team, lawyer Godwin Edudzie Tamakloe has disclosed that the PDS deal has not been suspended as claimed by government.

According to him, a new letter released by ECG really puts PDS in charge of power distribution and other services and that government has lied to Ghanaians.

Speaking on Okay Fm's Ade Akye Abia programme, he explained that government has not been truthful to Ghanaians adding that the PDS deal was fraught with corruption.

"Government claims to be investigating this PDS deal but this new joint letter from the electricity company of Ghana and PDS shows that government has not actually suspended the operations of PDS," he said

Background

The Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Ltd. has suspended the concession agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited with immediate effect.

“The decision follows the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) for the transaction which has been discovered upon further due diligence,” a government statement announcing the suspension of PDS operations said.

PDS deal suspended in public interest; to protect ECG assets – Akufo-Addo

President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said Government suspended the Power Distribution Services (PDS) agreement in the interest of the public. The President also insists that the move was to protect the assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana worth over $3 billion.

According to President Akufo-Addo, the decision to make the suspension of the PDS agreement public was “for the country to know exactly what is going on, and, therefore, hold the government to account for its stewardship.

Addressing members of the Ghanaian community in Angola on Thursday, August 8, 2019, the President explained that his Government inherited an arrangement in which the United States Government, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), offered the country half a billion dollars of money for the reform of the energy sector.

“It was decided to incorporate it largely into the reform of the Electricity Corporation of Ghana. One of the conditions of the money was that we should get a private electricity coordinator to partner with the nation to manage our electricity generation and distribution system,” he said.

Listen to his full submission in the video below: