The opposition National Democratic Congress has accused President Akufo-Addo of covering up the corrupt activities his appointees perpetrated during the Power Distribution Services (PDS) agreement.
At a press briefing Monday, the party’s National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi said even though it is almost a year since the fraudulent PDS deal was terminated, the Akufo-Addo-led administration has shown no sign of bringing the perpetrators to book.
He noted that, the culprits who were involved in the scam that costed the country a huge amount of money are still ‘free men’.
“The likes of Vice President Dr Mahammudu Bawumia, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, and the Eson-Benjiman-led MiDA who aided and facilitated this scam which has occasioned the nation huge financial losses have not been held to account for the roles they individually and jointly played in the scam.
“Cronies of the President such as Philip Ayensu, an appointee of President Akufo-Addo on the NCA Board who was the Chairman of PDS and the local partners in the company who perpetrated what government itself alleges to be a fraud on the people of Ghana, have all been left off the hook,” he stated.
Mr Gyamfi further stated that President Akufo-Addo established a PDS entity made up of family and friends to accumulate national funds for their own gains.
“All calls for the accounts of PDS to audited by an independent and internationally reputable Audit firm have been ignored by President Akufo-Addo.
“As we speak, Ghanaians do not even know how much was collected by PDS from electricity consumers within the duration of the concession and whether the funds have been properly accounted for and audited,” he stressed.
The Communication Officer, however, insisted that the opposition NDC will not sit aloof for President Akufo-Addo and his appointees to cause financial loss to this country.
He pledged that should the NDC flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama win power in the upcoming general elections, he will not be a ‘clearing agent’ for corruption.
The PDS deal
In March 2019, the Power Distribution Services, a private entity took up the operations of the Electricity Ghana Company Limited (ECG) a government entity to be the sole power distributor for Ghana’s electricity consumers.
However, the concession agreement was short lived, PDS was suspended in July 30, 2019 after the government said it suspected the agreement was tainted with fraud.
The deal was subsequently terminated in October 2019 although the transaction advisor, MiDA, set up an investigative body into the allegations and cleared PDS of fraud in August.
But the Energy Minister, Peter Amewu insisted that PDS is a fraudulent entity, hence government of Ghana will cease to transact any business with it.
