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General News on Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Source: citinewsroom.com
2019-07-31
Ben Boakye, Executive Director of CAPE
CAPE Executive Director Ben Boakye blamed the suspension of the concession agreement between the government and the energy utilities to the mere negligence of some people who were supposed to oversee the process before finalizing the deal.
According to him, although CAPE is deeply concerned about the outcome of the dealership agreement, the announcement was a little surprise because of the actions and inaction of some government agencies linked.
The ACEP stated that problems such as the inability for Meralco to meet the initial requirement to publish the name of a local partner at the pre-qualification stage left much to be desired .
Ben Boakye again revealed that although CAPE was chosen to chair the Concessions Committee, he only met with the MiDA once.
"Last night, the process to improve electricity distribution in Ghana suffered a major setback, that is, the concession agreement with Power Distribution Services Limited Ghana (PDS) was suspended by the Government of Ghana. CAPE is not surprised by the evolution of the situation but deeply concerned by the degree of negligence that has led to the current situation. Indeed, the best conclusion anyone can draw is that it represents the summary of the MiDA posture in the events that led to the cancellation of the agreement. "
ACEP further called for the ban on those found guilty of the agreement, adding that the background of the beneficial owners of the local partner should be audited.
"While CAPE congratulates the government for quickly mobilizing the public interest, the following actions are necessary, but it is necessary to immediately ban MIDA leaders in order to prevent the falsification of evidence that may be necessary to support the case. of State."
"The government must stop with immediate effect the IFC's advance consumption on the transaction, as the IFC has proved unable to defend the interests of its clients in this matter, the Government of Ghana and the MiDA . The government should immediately check the antecedents of beneficiaries and local partners in the PDS concession. "
Energy Minister John Peter Amewu said Wednesday in an interesting investigation by the government that the paper presented by Power Distribution Service (PDS) was a guarantee of the takeover of the electricity company. of Ghana (ECG) was forged.
The minister explained that, although the document stated that a company in Qatar had guaranteed the PDS, the company's management had told the government that she had no knowledge of the document.
Addressing Citi Business News, Amewu said the government would sue anyone found guilty of committing the fraudulent act.
"Due diligence investigations had shown that the payment guarantee presented by PDS to ECG was, for some reason, contained in the word fraud. The executing authority denied ownership of this document and therefore wrote to ECG to inform it that it had nothing to do with this document. "
Government ignores several concerns over PDS agreement – Minority
The minority in Parliament referred to extensive investigations into the operations of Power Distribution Services Limited (PDS).
According to Adams Mutawakilu, spokesperson for minorities in the Committee on Mining and Energy, the government has been unfair to Ghanaians by failing to address the concerns previously expressed about the agreement.
We acted in good faith when implementing the Energy Concession Agreement – PDS
The Electricity Distribution Service (PDS) also denied committing a wrongdoing in its dealership deal with the government through the Ministry of Finance.
In a statement, the company said it "wanted to declare for the record that it had always acted and that it would continue to act in good faith at all times."
Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in a statement on Tuesday that the PDS concession deal was suspended after the government discovered certain violations of the company's obligation to provide payment guarantees.
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