Stop politicizing PDS saga - Allotey Jacobs

Former Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has expressed worry over recent comments seeking to politicize the termination of the controversial PDS agreement.

According to the veteran politician, Ghanaians should desist from politicizing the PDS deal and focus on contributing issues that will help in nation-building.

He believes engaging the various stakeholders will cure the controversy over the deal.

“We need to take a national approach on this matter and stop making unnecessary politics with the PDS deal, we must always think about the nation first rather than our personal interest,” Allotey Jacobs told Lawyer Ohene Gyan, host of ‘Pae Mu Ka‘ on Accra based Kingdom FM 107.7

This comes after the government announced the termination of the concession agreement with PDS, after the detection of fundamental and material breaches of obligation in the provision of Payment Securities.

The US has responded to the Ghana government’s decision to terminate the power concession agreement with the Power Distribution Services.

In a statement, the US said it notes this decision with regret.

Background

The decision according to the government was taken following the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) which was discovered upon “further due diligence.”

In 2014, as part of the conditions that the government needed to satisfy in order to access a second Millennium Challenge Compact, christened the Ghana Power Compact, private participation in the management of Ghana’s debt-ridden energy sector was mooted.

The Compact II would see Ghana receive $498.2 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States to advance economic growth and reduce poverty in Ghana.

According to the Millennium Development Authority, MiDA, the supervising agency of the MCC Compact, the power compact was to, “directly support the energy sector strategic objectives to achieve power supply sufficiency including exports to neighbouring countries, and also supply power for new oil and gas-based industries.”

The John Mahama government announced the decision to, under the Compact II agreement, enter into a concessional agreement where a private company would take over the management of the largest power distributor in the southern part of the country, the Electricity Company of Ghana.

The announcement was however met with resistance despite strenuous clarification and explanation by the government that the strategic national asset was being privatized.

The workers of ECG held several public fora and protested the decision, arguing that if the government paid its debts to the power distributor and made the necessary investments, the company was capable of paying its suppliers and proving viable.