PDS deal: Govt should have consulted MiDA before suspending contract – Manteaw

The Government of Ghana erred by suspending the Power Distribution Service (PDS) concession without consulting the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Dr Steve Manteaw, Chair of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), has said.

MiDA was the institution in charge of the Millennium Challenge Compact II in Ghana and is supposed to supervise the ECG concession agreement that ended up with PDS.

The government of Ghana recently suspended its concession agreement with PDS.

The decision was communicated via a press release by Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Tuesday, 30 July 2019.

The statement said the action to put the agreement on hold was necessitated by “the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) for the transaction which have been discovered upon further due diligence”.

The government said a full probe has been initiated into the agreement and steps have been taken to ensure that “distribution, billing and payment services continue uninterrupted”.

Speaking at a public forum in Accra, Dr Steve Manteaw said government erred by suspending the deal.

He said : “Even if the allegation of fundamental breaches is proven against PDS, the government cannot act unilaterally and pick a decision to abandon the concession especially if it still wants to take advantage of the American support for it. This means that we will as a necessity to engage the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and obtain their endorsement before going ahead to terminate the contract. If this becomes the case, then we may resort to an option where the concession is resubmitted to tender.

“On the other hand, if we do not receive the MCC’s approval and still go ahead to terminate the contract, then we stand to lose the MCC’s package and we will be back to where we started with ECG firmly in the driver’s seat.”

The Minority in Parliament has also petitioned the US government to investigations issues surrounding the deal.

“The Minority seeks to trigger investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the United States of America especially after a clearer picture is now emerging that the Akufo-Addo Government stands complicit with top functionaries and cronies neck deep in the putrescent sleaze.

“The Akufo-Addo government, therefore, cannot be trusted to conduct thorough and independent investigations into this scandal of monumental proportions.”

“Besides, the Minority like most Ghanaians have grown sceptical about so-called investigations by the Akufo-Addo Administration since a countless number of these investigations only end up clearing appointees. The reports are never published and the real culprits are never identified and punished,” the minority’s petition stated.