In 2019, PDS assumed control of ECG’s operations under a 20-year concession agreement, part of the Millennium Challenge Compact between the Government of Ghana and the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
The deal aimed to inject private-sector efficiency into power distribution and improve service delivery nationwide.
However, months into the contract, the government suspended and later terminated the agreement after discovering that payment guarantees presented by PDS, reportedly issued by Al Koot Insurance and Reinsurance Company of Qatar, were fraudulent.
Subsequent investigations and rulings by Qatari courts confirmed that the documents had indeed been forged.
The matter led to a prolonged legal dispute in London, where PDS sought compensation exceeding US$390 million, claiming wrongful termination. But ECG, represented by Cherie Blair KC of Omnia Strategy LLP, maintained that the termination was justified due to the fraudulent guarantees.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Thursday, November 6, Vanderpuye accused Dr Bawumia of using his executive authority to alter the terms of the deal, a move he claims triggered the eventual breakdown of the power sector reform initiative.
“All this PDS thing, I put the blame strictly on the doorstep of Dr Bawumia. If he had not varied the conditionalities underpinning this arrangement, we wouldn’t have arrived at this situation. He used the delegated powers given him to handle the PDS and, on his own discretion, changed the bank guarantee to an insurance guarantee,” he said.
According to him, the decision undermined the credibility of the deal and opened the door for fraudulent activities. He cited comments by Hohoe MP, John Peter Amewu, who once described the PDS arrangement as “a scam created for people to steal money.”
After nearly three years of arbitration, the London tribunal dismissed all claims by PDS, upholding ECG’s decision and affirming that the fraudulent guarantees invalidated the entire concession.
