NDC would have milked the State through PDS – Chairman Wontumi

Unlike the current New Patriotic Party government, the National Democratic Congress would have allowed the Power Distribution Services (PDS), to continue milking the state even if they had detected some anomalies in their contract, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako has said.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP made this comment following government’s decision to suspend its concession agreement with the Power Distribution Services (PDS) bringing back the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in full control.

According to Mr. Antwi-Boasiako popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, under the leadership of former President Mahama, PDS would have been given the license to operate freely and the NDC government would have taken undue advantage of the situation to enrich their personal bank accounts.

Speaking to Peacefmonline.com, Chairman Wontumi commended the Akufo-Addo led government for acting swiftly on the matter by suspending the contract with PDS. 

“Do you think the NDC government under Mahama would have cancelled or suspended such an agreement with PDS? It wouldn’t have happened. They would have encourage the company to continue doing wrong and would even move further to make an arrangement with them to split any profit they make from the dubious deal. The Akufo-Addo led government must be praised for acting swiftly by suspending the contract”.

Fraudulent payment guarantees presented by Power Distribution Services (PDS) to ECG and the lack of both technical and financial muscle of some partners in the consortium that forms the PDS were the main issues that led to suspension of operations for the power distributor on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 by government.

PDS Saga: I detected no anomalies when I took over from Boakye Agyarko – Amewu

According to Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the decision was taken after government detected “fundamental and material breaches of PDS’s obligation in the provision of Payment Securities (Demand Guarantees) for the transaction which have been discovered upon further due diligence.”

Following the announcement, government has succeeded in securing all assets of ECG that were under PDS, apart from freezing the accounts of PDS through the collaboration of the IFS.

In the interim, government has tasked the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) – which the PDS took over from on March 1, 2019 – to take full control of power distribution in the country.

By: peacefmonline.com