Minority Petitions U.S. Embassy Over PDS

The Minority in Parliament has asked the United States of America (USA) government to investigate the Power Distribution Services (PDS) concession scandal.

This was contained in a petition signed by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu and presented to the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Stephanie S. Sullivan.

It was personally delivered at the US Embassy in Accra by the Ranking Member on Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

In a statement, the Minority explained that the petition had become necessary, because the Nana Akufo-Addo government "cannot be trusted to conduct thorough and independent investigations into this scandal of monumental proportions."

"The Minority seeks to trigger investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the United States of America especially after a clearer picture is now emerging that the Akufo-Addo Government stands complicit with top functionaries and cronies neck-deep in the putrescent sleaze," the statement added.

"We are additionally fortified by the knowledge that United States Authorities would not adopt a nonchalant attitude and allow millions of US taxpayer dollars under the signed Compact II of the Millennium Challenge Account to be recklessly misapplied and squandered," it stated.

The PDS concession was suspended on July 30 leading to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Limited temporarily resuming power distribution responsibilities in Ghana.

Following reports of forged documents being involved in the deal, the agreement was suspended was to allow government investigate possible lapses in fulfilling some aspects of the deal.

Meanwhile, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has denied claims that some government officials were conspiring to take public asset in the PDS concession deal saying that "no investigations would have been carried out if that was the case."

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