Government to probe PDS - Oppong-Nkrumah

The Minister for Information, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has assured the nation that the Akufo-Addo government will probe into the services rendered by Power Distribution Services (PDS) for the months that it have been in charge of the management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Though the time frame of this probe has not been given, per his words, “this investigation is going to ascertain if there should be further punitive measures taken by government to deal with those involved in the deal, as well as the to rectify if the revenues collected by the PDS overtime is available, and equivalent to what is in the records.

He gave the assurance at a joint press briefing by his outfit and the Energy Ministry in Accra. Mr. Nkrumah also gave the assurance that no job losses are going to occur within the energy sector, even as the agreement between the government and PDS has been cancelled.

Also, he said, though the termination of the contract between the United States government and Ghana was a tough decision, the government will still stand on its grounds to continue with the decision after it investigated into the matter and detected some breaches in the process.

The US government, during the erstwhile John Mahama administration, had a deal with the Government of Ghana (GoG) to provide $500 million for the nation to solve the power crisis. But, the US government issued a letter to the government to reinstate PDS. The government of Ghana did not, however, yield to this demand, resulting in the cancellation of the deal.

Mr. Oppong Nkrumah indicated that the concession had been terminated because the PDS did not meet the “material and fundamental terms of the (concession) agreement,” and due to these breaches, the Government of Ghana (GoG) had terminated the contract despite pressure from the US government.

Again, he said, this is no fight or argument, but a disagreement of ideas between Ghana and the American government. “Ghanaians should rest assured that, as it has always done, the government would continue to look for money elsewhere to make sure that whatever problem which persists in the energy sector would be solved,” he said.

The Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency thanked all those who worked with the government for a positive outcome in this process.

He, however, stressed that he knows and has seen the works of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) trying as much as they can to paint the government black. But, this would not yield any result.

The Information Minister expressed that PDS was not formed by the NPP-led government as the opposition party is saying, but rather Meralco formed this consortium after it went on an international competitive bidding and won the contract.