For an alleged role he played in changing a clause in the PDS deal from a bank guarantee to an insurance guarantee, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, will face prosecution after the end of this administration’s tenure.
Private legal practitioner, Martin Luther Kpebu, who is promising to take the matter on says the Vice President, likewise President Akufo-Addo, will both face the law for causing financial loss to the state.
After disclosing his intention to prosecute the President over a GHC500 million fumigation expenditure at a time Covid-19 was non-existent, he added that the Vice President’s role in the PDS scandal must not go unpunished.
“…and for Bawumia, we’ll be doing the PDS, we’ll be doing the role he played in changing the clause from a bank guarantee to an insurance guarantee. Next year, Ɛbɛyɛ dɛ brutal to wit (Next year would be brutally interesting)! Bawumia, he will go before the law, Akufo-Addo, he will go before the law,” he said on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, April 20, 2024.
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The PDS scandal
The government of Ghana entered into a concessional agreement with Power Distribution Company (PDS) to take over electricity supply in the country from state-owned Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). The concession agreement was terminated on the instruction of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in October 2019.
The termination brought to an end, PDS’ short-lived control of the country’s electricity supply.
The company was engaged in March 2019 but was suspended on July 30. Since its suspension, there had been a corporate governance tussle among its shareholders.
A Ghanaian local consortium held 51 per cent of the shares while the remaining 49 per cent shares are for two foreign companies – Manila Electric Company Limited (Meralco), a Filipino company with 30 per cent shares and Aenergia, an Angolan company with 19 per cent.
Foreign player, Meralco offloaded its shares to Meridian Power Ventures Ltd, the US-backed Millenium Development Authority (MiDA) confirmed.
PDS was suspended after the government said it suspected the agreement was tainted with fraud.
The transaction advisor, MiDA, set up an investigative body to probe the allegations and cleared PDS of fraud.
Despite the clearance in August, PDS remained suspended and the government has now taken a decision to cancel the agreement, sources have maintained.
Ghana has lost a $190 million grant by its US partners as part of a power concession agreement.
A statement from the US embassy said the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) confirmed that the money was no longer available after Ghana decided to terminate the agreement with PDS.
“Based upon the conclusions of the independent forensic investigation, the U.S. position is that the transfer of operations, maintenance, and management of the Southern Distribution Network to the private concessionaire on March 1, 2019, was valid and therefore the termination is unwarranted,” the US government said.
We’ll prosecute Bawumia for corruption if he leaves power – Sammy Gyamfi
