A former Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor has called for an end in the negotiations around Power Distribution Services (PDS) concession.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Jinapor said the whole agreement needed to be cancelled if the government indeed suspected fraud.

“If its fraud, cancel the whole agreement. There can be no negotiation so the issue of engaging the local partner or not engaging the local partner does not arise at all.”

On Tuesday, July 30, 2019, the government announced the suspension of the concession agreement and explained that the decision followed the “detection of fundamental and material breaches” on the part of PDS.

Mr. Jinapor was speaking after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a press conference to announce it had discovered plans to cede 30 percent shares in PDS to a new company called Meridian Power Ventures Limited in Hong Kong.

PDS is a consortium between Manila Electric (Meralco) of The Philippines, 30 percent, Aenergia SA (Angola), 19 percent; Santa Baron Ventures Ghana, 13 percent, TG Energy Solution Ghana, 18 percent, GTS Engineering Ghana Limited, 10 perent, and TBK Ghana Limited, 10 percent.

Mr. Jinapor said the Minister of Energy had travelled to the Philipines, met Meralco and agreed that the local partners should be ousted “and that they eventually will find a way of keeping Meralco and Aenergia in the deal.”

“Our Minister of Energy who accused PDS of fraudulent activities led a huge delegation last week to Manila ostensibly to negotiate with Meralco and eventually take out the local partners and then appropriate their shareholding.”