The issue of whether or not the Power Distribution Services (PDS) Concession Agreement should be cancelled by the government has started another ‘fight’ between the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The NDC has been firing in recent times, accusing the NPP government of trying to ‘loot’ the assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) through the PDS concession agreement which it initiated when it was in government.
The NPP has fired back saying the NDC is being mischievous by deliberately setting the public against them when it knows about the facts of the matter but is interested in doing propaganda in such a sensitive issue.
NDC Claims
The NDC claims it has ‘intercepted’ a document which it says exposes the government in the whole PDS saga and accused the government of giving out ECG assets to a Chinese company, Meridian Power Ventures Limited, which it said was formed barely a year ago.
According to the opposition, the ‘intercepted’ document is a letter addressed to the Chairperson of Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, which is directing a secret process to restructure the shareholding of PDS.
Intercepted Letter
They claimed the letter of Monday, October 14, 2019, was jointly signed by Ernio Acuna of Meridian Power Ventures (MEIRDIAN), and Jorge Morgado of Aenergy part of which allegedly read, “Since the negotiation for the turnover of the ECG assets and facilities after the PDS Consortium was declared the preferred bidder in the ECG concession, there had been several issues which have arisen in connection with the governance and management of ECG Concession as well as the board of PDS which unfortunately had not been fully addressed, including the prolonged suspension of the license of PDS and the ECG Concession and the issue on the Demand Guarantee.”
As a result, the NDC through its MP for Yapei Kusawgu and former Deputy Minister of Power, John A. Jinapor, was all over the place yesterday claiming the Meridian Power Ventures Limited was incorporated in Hong Kong just last year June and it was done without recourse to Parliament under the agreement.
He also called for the cancellation of the PDS deal if found to be fraudulent, and as a result, the NDC served what they called a 24-hour ultimatum on the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to make a full disclosure on the planned restructuring of the supposed PDS shareholding.
Embarrassing Conduct
A Deputy Energy Minister, William Owuraku Aidoo reacted to the NDC claims saying the opposition party continues to embarrass the country because they are refusing to read.
He said on Oman FM yesterday that there is no iota of truth in the NDC’s claims and said he was concerned that the NDC’s take on the whole PDS concession agreement and the reassignment of shares from Meralco to Meridian Power Ventures Limited is embarrassing.
Binding Agreement
The Deputy Minister explained that the Meridian Power Ventures Limited is a subsidiary of Meralco, therefore the agreement with Meralco still binds Meridian Power Ventures Limited.
“Their augment that Meridian was formed last year and government officials are conniving with its owners to buy shares in PDS is false. Meridian is a subsidiary of Meralco and this was stated in the document presented to Parliament. They would have known if they have read,” he fired.
The Deputy Energy Minister argued that it is either the opposition party wants to deliberately lie to Ghanaians or they genuinely did not read the reports so do not know.
He also said he was worried about John Jinapor’s ability to interpret some of the issues to the NDC.
“The NDC’s conduct in this whole issue is embarrassing, it is propaganda coupled with ignorance,” he said.
By Melvin Tarlue