PDS scandal: ‘The totality of Ghana’s loss is the ‘dumor’ being experienced today’ — Ben Boakye

Ben Boakye, Executive Director of Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP)

The termination of Ghana's Millennium Challenge Compact by the United States on March 19, over a failed power concession deal continues to cost Ghana dearly in the power sector, according to an energy policy expert.

Ben Boakye, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), said Ghana's loss from the botched Power Distribution Services (PDS) concession goes beyond the $192 million that was directly disbursed under the compact.

In a social media post on Friday, May 10, Mr. Boakye stated that the totality of the loss is the state of the energy sector which is currently marred by erratic power supply known locally as ‘dumsor’.

“MiDA was a significant part of the problem; Ghana had to lose so much when it decided to subsume operational decisions under overt and covert political manipulation. $192m is the tip of the iceberg. The totality of our loss is what we see in the power sector today; a mess,” the post reads.

The PDS agreement was meant to hand over the operations of the state-owned Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to the private firm in a 20-year concession deal.

However, allegations of financial impropriety led to the termination of the agreement just a year later.

The scandal caused the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to suspend a critical $190 million funding tranche that was aimed at improving Ghana's power infrastructure and sector recovery.

MCC has since stated there are no immediate plans to resume cooperation with Ghana.