PDS saga: [Revealed] Nancy Pelosi visit to Ghana triggered PDS suspension [Audio]

Research and Policy Analyst with the Institute for Energy Security (IES), Mikdad Mohammed has revealed that, one of the main reasons Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States, Nancy Pelosi, and a Congressional delegation arrived in Accra, Ghana Sunday afternoon was to hold high-level discussions with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye on the operation of the Power Distribution Services (PDS).

Speaking on Happy FM’s Epa Hoa Daben show with Kwame Afrifa-Mensah, Mohammed said “If there is a blame to go round, it must be on all of them; the other point most of them don’t want us the civil society to talk about is, if its not Nancy Pelosi who visited Ghana do you think someone will wake up 9:30 pm and write statement that they are suspending PDS?” he quizzed the host.

He revealed that one of the topics the American delegation to Ghana raised during the meeting was EGC’s concession and how the American government is worried about the involvement of PDS in the EGC concession.

According to Mohammed, Nancy Pelosi said the Ghanaian companies were not credible; they do not have the track record and the American government will not pump $580 million into a shoddy deal.

“It’s part of the discussion they had that because the Ghanaian companies were not credible, and don’t have the track record, the USA government as part of Millennium Challenge Compact(MCC) will not be pumping $580 million money,” he said.

The government of Ghana on Tuesday decided to suspend a concessionary agreement with PDS for distribution of power in Ghana, with immediate effect following what it said was the discovery “of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees).”

Details of the alleged breach revealed that the Management/Directors of PDS, Meralco Consortium forged a document to finally get the deal.

The Ministry of Information has said that the concession agreement with PDS is currently suspended as a temporary measure pending the result of a full-scale investigation being conducted by members from the various concerned agencies.