PDS Termination: Amewu lied, he has no credibility - Sammy Gyamfi stings

The National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has described the Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu, as a liar without credibility.

He said, the Minister had described a Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) presentation at the Movenpick Hotel as a meeting between the government and Parliamentary select committee of Mines, Energy and Finance, something the minister lied about.

“...Peter Amewu lied because the Movenpick meeting, was not a meeting of Parliament and it was not a meeting of any Parliamentary committee; Amewu lied when he said John Jinapor and other MPs were present…he lied! That’s why I’ll never believe him because he has no credibility,” Sammy Gyamfi said on Peace FMs ‘Kokrokoo’ last Wednesday.

He said the minister cannot describe a presentation at a hotel as a Parliamentary approval of the termination of the Power Distribution Service (PDS) deal because that meeting was not a Parliamentary meeting. Besides the MPs were not available.

“The Speaker was not there; the clerk was not there…it was not a Parliamentary meeting. The impression being created is that once they told Haruna [Iddrisu], he was expected to be there,” Mr Gyamfi explained.

He added that the sector minister presented the PDS shareholding agreement to Parliament on July 10, 2018, and it was approved on July 24 at the time when Meridian Power Ventures (MERIDIAN) was already present in Ghana and had been registered but it was hidden at the blind side of the parliamentarians.

“They lied to Parliament that PDS will be made of Manila Electric Company Limited (Meralco), but they knew Meralco had never been a shareholder of PDS but MERIDIAN…they lied that Santa Baron Ventures Limited will be a shareholder but rather it is Santa Power Limited…” Sammy Gyamfi reiterated.

He noted that the government has jeopardized the access of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) with the PDS shady deals, that is why the opposition NDC has been arguing that the PDS Concession was bad.

“We got to a stage where the sector minister, John Peter Amewu said [that] the PDS [deal] is fraudulent, then we (NDC) said 'If fraud has been detected then the PDS deal needs to be cancelled,” he stressed.