The Coalition of Stakeholders on Electricity Contracts and Arrangements (COSSECA) has urged investigations into the Power Distribution Service (PDS) -Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) deal describing the actions by Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) as suspicious and 'fraudulent'.
This comes in the wake of government's suspension of the PDS-ECG agreement for thirty days giving instances of material breaches in securing insurance guarantee. B However, the coalition believes that MiDA has acted fraudulently in their handling of the agreement between.
According to Mr Richard Nyamah, convener for COSSECA, the Energy Commission and the Public Utility Regulatory Commission's (PURC) letterheads and logos were allegedly forged by MiDA. “MiDA wrote letters purporting to come from stakeholders in the energy sector such as the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission and Energy Commission to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to have its consent in selecting a concessionaire for the ECG" he stated.
This, he said, encouraged COSSECA to sue MiDA in September 2016, when they became aware of the alleged fraud but the case was thrown out of court. He also urged the Director of MiDA, Martin Eson-Benjamin to proceed on leave as his stay in office may temper with evidence in the ongoing investigations.
Mr Nyamah described PDS as a new company with no experience or financial muscle to raise the required guarantees.
He again alleged that MiDA, in its dealings, had exposed Ghana to financial risks, taking into consideration the assets of ECG worth in excess of US$2.5 billion which was leased to PDS.
"To this effect, we wish to urge President Akufo-Addo and the investigations team to extend their investigations to include MiDA and IFC who are complicit in all this" he said.
The group said that the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) connections with some of the companies that had expressed interest to be part of the concession bid resulted in a conflict of interest. They also questioned the bond from Donewell as insurance for the PDS deal.
Dr Steve Manteaw, Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) said that there is no doubt that the country has made some mistakes and commended President Nana Akufo- Addo for his decision to suspend the agreement.
He said that though some people have described the deal as rushed, current circumstances do not allow for the deal to continue.
The Coalition was also officially launched at the forum in Accra. In attendance were other members including Mr Kofi Bentil from IMANI Ghana, Nana Yaa Jantua Executive Secretary of COSSECA, and Mr Kwame Jantua; Chairman for the occasion and the media.