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General News of Saturday, August 3, 2019
Source: ghananewsagency.org
2019-08-03
John Jinapor, former Deputy Minister of Electricity
A minority in Parliament called for the immediate cancellation of the concession agreement between the Ghana government and Power Distribution Services (PDS), describing it as very hostile to Ghana's energy sector.
According to them, the concession, if allowed to continue, could destabilize the energy sector with serious consequences, including: rising energy costs and paralysis of power generation companies. At a press conference in Parliament, Mr John Jinapor, former deputy minister of power, described the agreement as bad for the country and should be immediately repealed.
The government has recently suspended its concession contract with PDS after finding fundamental and substantial breaches of PDS's obligation to provide payment guarantees (on-demand guarantees) for the transaction that had been discovered in a transaction. thorough control.
Mr. Jinapor also said that the government's claim that he suspended the concession to protect the nation's interests was nothing more than a smokescreen concealing his complicity in the whole scandal. He added that the detailed checks carried out by the minority had revealed that the PDS had so far not injected the necessary financial capital as stipulated in the concession agreement.
On the contrary, he said that the company had recourse to the appropriation of all the revenues collected from the consumers (including the expected payments to the transport and production companies) in order to reinforce their revenue needs.
"In reality, they use the money of other state companies to artificially improve their balance sheet as these companies sink into a spiral debt," he added.
Mr. Jinapor also invited the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the United States of America to keep abad of the facts and to conduct its own independent investigation into this matter. He alleged that the Ministries of Finance and Energy knew everything, whereas the guarantee provided by PDS was false, but had decided not to follow up the irregularity for reasons that were better known to them. .
The minority therefore warned the government that it would resist any attempt to reintroduce other private sector players or to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV) on the government concession agenda.
Mr. Jinapor also called on the government to identify and prosecute those responsible for the fraudulent guarantee, as confirmed by the Minister of Energy, Mr. John Peter Amewu.
It instructed the government to ensure the full repayment of all sums affected by PDS with interest through this fraudulent scheme and their collaborators.
He called for the dissolution of the current ECG board and the appointment of a nonpartisan competent board, adding that the current management of the ECG needed to be restructured and designed to allow for the signature of performance bonds guaranteeing an efficient supply of energy to Ghanaians.
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