Opinions of Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Columnist: Emmanuel Wilson Jnr.

‘Government to control PDS through the backdoor - Investors feel threatened?

PDS took over from ECG in March this year PDS took over from ECG in March this year

I have followed the ECG-PSP Transaction for the last 3 years and I am so worried that some of the parties involved are threatening to quit participation in the ECG Concession and return to their country. This is because they feel tricked and betrayed.

As a patriot, I intend to share my musings with the public over a 10 separate articles. Each of this will expose my findings as I answer the pertinent questions yet to be raised, though three of such questions I am about to ask now:

1. The Government insisted that 51% of the shares should at all times belong to Ghanaians; though that has happened, some individuals who have not sown anything, anywhere, at any time, want to reap a harvest. Who are those individuals? Is Solomon Asamoah of GIIF willing to participate in the scheme, and what is his professional judgement about it? In answering this question, I shall make reference to the 40page Shareholders’ Agreement, drafted by the Ghanaian SPV brokers and presented to the Ghanaian local investor component of PDS dated April 2019; Cabinet approval of the concession structure of 2016 and its affirmation in 2017 by the NPP administration;

2. Why is it that though the agreement between Ghana and PDS guarantees the ownership arrangements, some people think that without forming a consortium out of the Ghanaian equity participating entities there will be no “safeguarding of Ghanaian ownership of PDS in a unified manner”. Is this a genuine motive? What is the real motive of the many SPVs springing up Nicodemously all over the place? I shall also answer this question by relying on the Government Support Agreement (GSA) of the concession arrangement, and a letter that the Minister for Finance wrote on the 27th March, 2019) to a Lawyer Akoto Ampaw.

3. Who are the individuals who want to, by these schemes, force themselves into the business of PDS? How are they related to this South African rich man who “expects serious deals in the electricity sector of Ghana, but some people are proving to be stumbling blocks”? The public will be informed appropriately on these questions based on the content of the intercepted letter written by the SPV brokers for the signatures of the Ghanaians in the PDS consortium which is dated 7th February 2019, the role of Richard Came, and others;

In the coming days, I am inviting all well-meaning Ghanaians to join me as I expose and fight against conflict of interest and the government’s deliberate failure to respect the agreement terms which may lead to Ghana incurring judgement debt.