The Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, addressed the allegations of ‘state capture’ made by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, against members of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.

Egyapa Mercer, speaking on a panel discussion on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, on July 20, 2024, criticized Ablakwa's claims as being deceptive and only partially true.

The minister, who also serves as the MP for Sekondi, expressed his displeasure with the insinuations made by Ablakwa and supporters of the opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), that he would face legal consequences for his involvement in the PDS scandal if former President John Dramani Mahama, the NDC's flagbearer, were to come into power.

“Increasingly, you (Ablakwa) is gaining a penchant for falsehood and half-truths and it’s not good… and talk of PDS. It is not in doubt that I incorporated a company called TG Energy in 2014. That company engaged some partners of it, Meralco and co, which participated in the bid to dispose of ECG during your (Ablakwa’s) government’s era. In 2014, they had been shortlisted by your government as part of the six that are prequalified.

“It was when the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government came that some other entities who had also been prequalified exited because of the president’s insistence that the shareholding should be changed from, I believe, 80-20 in favour of foreign to 51-49 in favour of Ghanaian. And so that consortium made up of TG Energy, Meralco and some others won that ECG concession. And because they had won, they incorporated PDS as the entity that the government of Ghana contracted with. These are matters of fact,” he said.

The minister criticized Ablakwa for implying that he acted improperly in the PDS deal, asserting that he did nothing wrong and would not face any consequences.

“I did not commit any wrongdoing, so your supporters who spread false hope on social media that in the unlikely event of your victory, individuals like Egyapa Mercer will be held accountable for what? Nobody can do zilch to me because I did nothing.”

Watch his full remarks in the video below:



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