The Director of Communications at the Ministry of Energy, Richmond Rockson, says that the collapse of the Power Distribution Services (PDS) was based on “greed and personal interest” by some individuals involved in the deal.
Speaking on Prime Insight on Saturday, November 8, Mr Rockson welcomed the recent arbitration ruling in favour of Ghana, saying the outcome vindicates the government’s decision to terminate the controversial concession.
“As a government, the ministry welcomes this ruling. This has been almost four years since it started in July 2021, and the government has been contesting these issues. What it means is that there are no liabilities towards ECG,” he said.
He explained that the arbitration tribunal dismissed all claims made by PDS and ruled that the guarantee underpinning the concession was void.
“If you look at the final award as determined by the tribunal, all reliefs and claims sought by PDS were dismissed. There were also questions about the guarantees, and the tribunal held that the guarantee was void. Even from the start, it wasn’t valid,” he said.
Mr Rockson said that the country should not have found itself in such a situation in the first place, blaming poor decision-making and self-interest for the failed transaction.
“We caused this ourselves. There was no point getting to a situation where we would be sued and engage in unnecessary legal battles. It’s because what needed to be done properly at the time was not done,” he said.
Tracing the history of the project, he explained that the concession stemmed from the Power Compact II signed between then-Mahama’s administration and the US government under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in 2014. The initiative aimed to use about $500 million to reform Ghana’s power sector.
“Unfortunately, the NDC lost power in 2016, and the project couldn’t be completed. When the new administration came in, it changed the rules of the game,” he explained.
According to Mr Rockson, the government’s insistence on 51 per cent local ownership discouraged several experienced international firms from participating in the deal.
“We had a lot of international companies from Germany, France, and the United States with the requisite expertise. But because government insisted that the Ghanaian partners must hold 51%, many of these companies pulled out. We were left with only two options, and the government settled on Manila Electric Company, which had little experience in this region,” he said.
He added that the local and Angolan partners lacked the financial capacity to raise the required $250 million, leading to several unmet conditions, including the fraudulent insurance guarantee that ultimately collapsed the deal.
“Even when it was clear there were capacity issues, especially with the local partners, the government still pushed the deal through. Later, it turned out that the insurance guarantee was fraudulently acquired,” Mr Rockson revealed.
He described the outcome as a major lesson for the energy sector, saying future private sector partnerships must be guided by integrity and competence.
“This is a lesson for all of us. PDS failed because of greed and personal interest from some individuals. We must always put the country’s interest ahead of personal gain,” he said.
The Energy Ministry, he added, is working closely with the Attorney-General to ensure that all assets and funds in the possession of PDS are recovered for the benefit of Ghanaians.
“You can be assured that every asset in possession of PDS money or anything they acquired while operating ECG will be recovered. There have been discussions between the Energy Minister and the Attorney-General, and all those assets will return to the people of Ghana,” he said.
Mr Rockson also disclosed that several investigations are ongoing to uncover all issues linked to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the PDS deal.
“There are a number of investigations that have been commenced when it comes to ECG. Sometimes we limit the conversation to just the containers, but it’s not just that. There are procurement issues being handled by investigative agencies and PDS-related matters as well,” he said.
He confirmed that the Office of the Special Prosecutor is already working on some of these cases and assured that anyone found complicit would face the law.
“The Office of the Special Prosecutor is doing some work on that as well. Investigations are ongoing, and if there are any new angles, the security services will take it on board. But the assurance is that every single penny will be recovered and anyone who contributed to this will be held liable for their actions,” Mr Rockson said.