PDS saga is not a crisis of confidence with the US - Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said the termination of the Power Distribution Service (PDS) concessionaire agreement does not merit a crisis of confidence with Ghana working the United States government.

According to him, the government of Ghana and United States will continue to work together on other development cooperation projects.

"This has not been a crisis of confidence between us and the Americans. It has been a difference of opinion which we have mutually agreed to respect."

The Minister made this known at a press briefing on Wednesday in Accra following government’s decision to terminate the concessionaire agreement between Electricity Company of Ghana and Power Distribution Services (PDS).

The United States Embassy on Wednesday issued a statement saying; "United States of America notes this decision [termination of the PDS contract] with regret based on the conclusions of the independent forensic investigation, the U.S. position is that the transfer of operations, maintenance, and management of ECG to the PDS on March 1, 2019, was valid, and therefore the termination was unwarranted"

"As such, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has confirmed that the US$190 million funds granted to Ghana at the March 1 transfer to the 20-year concession from ECG to PDS are no longer available,"

"In this spirit, the United States has worked with the Government of Ghana since the latter’s July 30 suspension of the concession in the hopes of finding a mutually acceptable solution that respected contract sanctity and the Government of Ghana’s interest in restructuring the concession," the Embassy’s statement noted.

The United States government however said it looks forward to continuing to work together with the Government of Ghana to implement the remainder of the projects under the Ghana Power Compact.