General News of Thursday, 17 September 2020

Source: 3news.com

Minority alleges a ploy between govt & PDS to acquire ECG

Parliament of Ghana Parliament of Ghana

The Minority in Parliament has alleged the Akufo-Addo-led is scheming between the government and the Power Distribution Services (PDS) to acquire the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) again.

Minority spokesperson on Energy, Adam Mutawakilu, indicated that a recent comment made by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah to the effect that PDS has sued government formed part of a bigger ploy to take over the operations of ECG.

Parliament approved the concession agreement for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under the Millennium Challenge Compact on July 25, 2018.

The agreement led to the takeover of ECG by the Power Distribution Services (PDS) which was expected to invest over US$ 580 million over a 5-year period into ECG to improve on its performance.

The deal was however short-lived as it was suspended by the government, citing fraud, and later terminated.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah, in a media interview revealed that the PDS had sued the government of Ghana over the abrogation of the deal.

This, Damongo MP describes as a smokescreen.

According to him it is mere a ploy is for the government to put in a weak defence in court so ECG can be returned to PDS to manage.