PDS Saga: US Vex Ghana, Zips $190m Cash Away Over 'Unwarranted' Termination [Letter]

The US Embassy Tuesday said the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has confirmed that the $190 million grant is no longer available after Ghana decided to terminate the concession agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS).

As such, MCC has confirmed that the $190 million funds granted to Ghana at the March 1 transfer to the 20-year concession from ECG to PDS are no longer available, the statement noted.

The statement noted that “Based upon the conclusions of the independent forensic investigation, the U.S. position is that the transfer of operations, maintenance, and management of the Southern Distribution Network to the private concessionaire on March 1, 2019, was valid and therefore the termination is unwarranted.”

Government of Ghana, however, decided to terminate the agreement over material and fundamental breaches from PDS.

The government says PDS’ demand guarantees cannot be verified.

Al-Koot, a Qatari company which PDS submitted as the ones who issued the demand guarantees deny doing so, raising concerns of fraud.

After an initial suspension of PDS, government, in a letter to the MCC, said it has decided to terminate the agreement with PDS.

But the statement from the MMC indicated that moving forward, the U.S. Government, through MCC, will continue to implement the Tranche I funds of $308 million with the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA).

It said, this funding will continue to support important improvements to the infrastructure of Ghana’s southern distribution network, increase reliability and power access to key markets, and advance energy efficiency programs directly benefiting the people of Ghana.

Read full statement below: