PDS fiasco: 'It’s super incompetence' – Buah

The Akufo-Addo government failed to do due diligence regarding the agreement Ghana signed with Power Distribution Services (PDS) Limited, Mr Emmanuel Buah, a former Energy Minister has said.

The government of Ghana recently suspended its concession agreement with PDS.

The decision was communicated via a press release by Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Tuesday, 30 July 2019.

The statement said the action to put the agreement on hold was necessitated by “the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) for the transaction which have been discovered upon further due diligence”.

The government said a full probe has been initiated into the agreement and steps have been taken to ensure that “distribution, billing and payment services continue uninterrupted”.

The public has been assured that the development “will not interfere with the distribution of electricity services to customers”.

Mr Buah told Kwabena Prah Jnr (The Don) on Accra100.5FM on Wednesday, 31 July 2019 that: “This is the short-sightedness of this government we talk about; they are super incompetent and visionless. This is a government that has lost its way.”

“The PDS contract was not done properly, we warned the government but this government did not listen.”

“The only solution to these problems is to vote out the NPP and bring back the NDC because the NDC has a good record in the power sector,” he added.

Mr Buah asked: “What was the government’s interest in allowing PDS to operate without a guarantee? I challenge everybody to go and check the shareholding structure of this company.”