ECG concession under threat

I am back. My anger is ever ferocious because Ghana deserves better.

I worry that some of the major partners in the ECG PSP consortium are threatening to quit participation and return to their country. They continue to feel tricked and betrayed. I also worry because the Ghanaians in the PDS consortium have remained silent. When confronted they deny that they are under any pressures to cede shares, and say the shareholding arrangements have not and will not change; and that they are not being forced to form an SPV, despite the information to the contrary that is in the open.

As a citizen, but not a spectator, I demand answers and expeditious action from all well-meaning Ghanaians to save our country and the ECG concession from some greedy individuals. The government is unwilling to let sanity prevail for obvious reasons.

As I write, may I remind our national leadership that the energy sector debt situation has worsened? On 7th January, 2017 it stood at $2.4b; now it stands at over $3.2b. That is not progress, but deep retrogression in only two years. I heard the ultimatum of GRIDCO workers on May Day; I also continue to hear the grumblings of PDS workers who fear the concession will fail, after all the excitement over the takeover. The power generating and allied companies have been forced to create a chamber of power sector entities to consolidate their front. For the first time in many years, PURC workers got their April pay very late! The clouds are gathering, the prognosis is bleak and getting bleaker by the day.

In my two previous articles, I asked questions, and provided answers to some of them. In the answers, I mentioned a letter written by the Finance Minister to a certain Akoto Ampaw to “ensure the security of the PDS business and its ownership by Ghanaian shareholders. In order to safeguard Ghanaian ownership of PDS and to ensure that control of PDS is secured by Ghanaians in a unified manner, the Ministry requires that the Ghanaian shareholding is consolidated and held by a single, newly incorporated, Ghanaian entity (the SPV) in which the initial Ghanaian shareholders (and or any other Ghanaian investors from time to time) would hold shares”.

This sounds laudable and jingoistic on the surface. Questions remain to be answered however: when did the Ministry of Finance adopt a policy of a ‘Single Front’? Assuming that policy is official why has it not been communicated to Ghanaians and foreign investors appropriately?

The two questions above are occasioned by the content of an earlier memorandum, to the Ghanaian partners of the PDS consortium, in which the SPV brokers, led by Ofori-Atta, sought to force particular Ghanaians into the PDS consortium. One of those persons has had a long-standing relationship with the power sector and is in a position to explain most of the nation wrecking corrupt-deals of the past.

The question Ofori-Atta needs to answer in respect of that individual is: what makes him think that the individual is the best place “to hold and keep our own for us”? What makes that particular individual more believable than the other private sector Ghanaians who have legitimately worked to be part of the PDS consortium? Ofori-Atta has been a successful entrepreneur; he knows that business owners are free to decide what they do with their shares.

Forcing, blackmailing, threatening people and holding the concession to ransom with the power of the State induces reprehension. My fear is that when the consortium brokers have schemed to take shares, they will reap where they have not sown and worsen the plight of the electricity consumer who lives at Agbogbloshie, Kyebi, Market Circle, Sofoline, and indeed everywhere in Ghana.

They will not respond to equity calls though they are capable, given that the net worth, of just one of them is in excess of $200m. The person the brokers seek to force on the PDS consortium is assessed at a net worth of over $300m, but his past and his South African associations suggest that he intends to just milk fat cow Ghana. That is my real fear, not who owns PDS. It disrespects my rights as a Ghanaian, to be rewarded for my genuine effort; it makes me ever angry.

On 3rd July 2018, Ghana witnessed the signing of the concession agreement between ECG and PDS. Ken Ofori-Atta signed for Ghana as the Finance Minister. He signed having read the part of the concession, in the Government Support Agreement which says that: “On and following the Transfer Date until the Buy-Out-Date, the Company shall ensure that 51% or more of the issued and outstanding shares are held, directly or indirectly, by individuals who are citizens of Ghana” this being just one of the provisions which safeguard the Ghanaian interest.

Is Ofori-Atta by his letter to Akoto Ampaw suggesting that he signed the agreement on behalf of Ghana fully aware that it was risky for Ghana? Why would he sign any such deal if the interest of Ghana was not protected? If that is the case, then how many other deals has he, as Finance Minister, signed for the country that are full of risks and dangers that we are yet to learn about? So you see why I am angry, and frustrated?

While I work hard to bring the answers to my questions to the Ghanaian, the ‘Mafia’ is at work busily ‘killing the story’ by bribing journalists off! They should not forget that the strategy is unsustainable over the long term – evidence of that is replete in our recent past. Some will take the bait and back off; remember, however, that others will take and still expose you because they truly believe in Ghana.

In advising the ‘Mafia’ I am not oblivious of their basic essence, and makeup - they can destroy just for pride, personal pride. Ghana is on notice: they can destroy just for pride.

My crusade will not end until the anguishing PDS staff can go to bed certain that they work for a viable, unfettered business. Until the transfer of operations to PDS is sealed with a new cost reflective (or adequately subsidized) tariff, and the owners free to run the business without any under-the-table distractions, although they still deny such intrusive distractions. I will not sit still.

The first steps to any worthwhile success include removing Dr. Joe Amoako-Tuffour from the PURC, changing its Chairman, and eating humble pie by addressing the electricity tariff rationally.

Having asked the questions above, I remind the whole nation of what Ofori-Atta said to Ashesi students on December 16, 2006: “your responsibility is to achieve greatness for Ghana in the years ahead. A Ghana that our forebears envisioned. A new Ghana and a new attitude by the body politic with the following principles in your life: ethics as a basic principle; integrity; responsibility of citizenhood; and respect for the right of all citizens. If you, as new leaders, live these principles as part of your citizenship and remain passionate as guardians of these virtues, Ghana will prevail”.

The octogenarian, Jones Ofori-Atta, is still alive at Begoro. He may not have been the finest Finance Minister but he left behind a Ghana that prevailed for Ken Ofori-Atta to become a Finance Minister. I wonder whether the greed I am witnessing today will sustain the achievement of Jones to enable Katakyie become a leader one day. The virtues espoused in the book, Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Values are great. Juxtaposed against the refusal of close people to participate in the Friday morning devotion sessions, at the Ministry of Finance, one is tempted to agree with those people who say that such meetings are “hypocritical pranks”. Let them not be right.
I remain angry.

When I write again I will focus my attention on the consortium brokers who also work as the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’, and have relegated the Vice President to only making ridiculous political statements when it comes to matters of State. It is regrettable that Ghana has allowed the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ to perfect the art of political corruption entrepreneurship.

In my next write-up, I will focus on the forced factoring deals, the debt collection syndicates, and the many SPVs working around the President while he sleeps.
I remain, an angry citizen.