The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, has stated that the collapse of the Power Distribution Services (PDS) deal was caused by the actions of a few greedy individuals closely associated with the agreement.

According to him, the deal itself was not a flawed concept and presented a viable approach to enhancing private sector participation in the power sector.

Speaking during the Government Accountability Series on July 16, 2025, Jinapor emphasised that involving the private sector in electricity distribution was a sound strategy. However, the PDS arrangement was undermined by self-serving interests.

“We are not going to use the PDS approach in bringing in the private sector. PDS was not a bad idea in terms of private sector involvement. The only bad thing was that a few greedy individuals decided to cannibalise the process and sell the shares among themselves,” he said.

The minister lauded the potential of the PDS deal, noting that it initially served its intended purpose.

He highlighted that ECG’s revenue began to rise under the PDS arrangement, but the deal eventually collapsed due to political interference.

“If they had started what we are doing now, ensuring value for money, a competitive process, and less political interference, even in its flawed form, we saw ECG’s revenue increasing. So it means that if we do it better, we can achieve real results,” he added.

Jinapor made these remarks in the context of the government’s ongoing plans to engage the private sector in improving the performance of state-owned enterprises.

“I have assured you that we will not get involved in the shares of the new private sector participation,” he stated.

The PDS deal, signed in March 2019 under the administration of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, awarded a 25-year concession to PDS to manage the operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). However, the agreement was suspended in July of the same year following allegations of fraud.

SSD/MA

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