Former President John Mahama has expressed his disappointment in President Nana Addo over his handling and cancelation of the $190 million second tranche of the power compact by the Unites States government.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of 2020 manifesto committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the former president and leader of the NDC said “As someone who took over from the late Prof. Mills and supervised the Ghana Compact 2, negotiations with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the US government I’m deeply disappointed in Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration for his handling of the PDS saga. We are all deeply disappointed because of the self-serving decisions that were taken.”
”The deliberate acts perpetrated with the connivance of the Flag Staff House in the ECG concessionaire agreement has led us to where we are today. This was absolutely needless and could have been avoided,” Mahama revealed.
“The MCC to withdraw $190m of the funding amount is a sad day for us, this amount was meant to improve the efficiency of our electricity utility corporation,” he added.
Background
The Government of Ghana terminated the Concession Agreement with the PDS over the take-over of the assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for the distribution of electricity in the southern sector of the country.
The move was necessitated by a forensic audit conducted by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Government of Ghana’s investigations into the issuance of Demand Guarantees for the Concession Transaction, which revealed that the Payment Security for the Transaction was invalid.
However, the MCC in a letter to Ghana’s Minister of Finance Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta requested the government of Ghana to reinstate the PDS concession right by 30th October 2019 or risk losing the second tranche allotment of $190 million of the Compact II.
In the letter dated 18th October 2019, the MCC said it wants the government of Ghana to lift the suspension of the LAA, BSA, and GSA and cause the Energy Commission to lift the suspension of PDS’ Retail Supply Licence.
By: Joseph Nii Ankrah
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