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PDS must pay lost $190m MCC Cash and all other expenses – Isaac Adongo

Adongo Isaac Concert Party Isaac Adongo

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 Source: mynewsgh.com

Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central constituency, Isaac Adongo is demanding that the Power Distribution Company (PDS) pays for whatever losses Ghana may incur as a result of the termination of their contract with the Government of Ghana including an amount of $190 million which would have been received in the last tranche of the compact II program with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

A statement from the US embassy issued on Tuesday night said the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has confirmed that the money is no longer available after Ghana decided to terminate the concession agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS).

Finance Minister in a letter dated October 18, 2019, to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) announced the termination of the agreement which came into effect on March 1, 2019 and saw PDS take over the assets and operations of ECG.

However, in a letter addressed to Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta dated October 18, 2019, the Millenium Challenge Corporation acting on behalf of the government of the United States of America asked government to “reinstate the concession rights of Power Distribution Services Limited (PDS) as contemplated under the agreements governing the ECG-Private Sector Participation (PSP)”

In effect, the MCC wants Ghana to restore the lease and assignment agreement, bulk supply agreement and government support agreement which form the PDS-ECG PSP transaction agreement.

Speaking on The PM Show on Bolgatanga based Yem Radio monitored by MyNewsGh.com , Isaac Adongo said PDS must be made to compensate the country with payment for all expenses incurred and the time wasted in operationalizing the agreement including payment of $190 million which would be lost in the compact II program due to the abrogation of the agreement.

“That contract provided for penalties if PDS did not meet the terms and conditions of the agreement. Is that right? So how much is the state going to be reimbursed by PDS for the fraud that they have visited on the people of Ghana, secondly for the fact that they have wasted all the time that we put together to put together this agreement and also for the fact that they failed to meet the conditions that required for them to be transferred the assets”, he said.

In the view of the Member of Parliament, PDS must suffer penalties for non-performance in whatever form they are contained in the agreement.

He added that “We should be telling PDS to be ready to pay for the consequences of this fraudulent transaction. Those consequences should include whatever monies that we are going to lose from the Millennium Challenge Corporation. I don’t see how we are going to lose money when one of the parties did not keep faith with the contract and didn’t perform under the contract but actually visited fraud on us. If there were no penalties, clearly that would be the biggest scam of a contract that can ever be cited”.

He further called for the prosecution of some officers of state including the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta, Board Chairman of ECG Kelly Gadzekpo who doubles as CEO of Enterprise Group and Director of MiDA, Martin Eson-Benjamin for their roles in the failed deal.

Isaac Adongo again called for a forensic audit of the activities of PDS by credible international audit firms in order to determine how much money the power distributor collected from the day it commenced operations and the money paid back to government.

Source: mynewsgh.com
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