The Ghana Power Compact, also referred to as Compact II, has now entered into force despite a law suit against the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) over the concession of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
A press statement released by MiDA and copied to Citi Business News explained that by the action, the treaty which was signed on August 5, 2014 between the Republic of Ghana and the United States of America, represented by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has become effective and Ghana now has access to the Program funds.
A member of the opposition New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) communications team, Saaka Salia, sued MiDA over the planned concession of the ECG, arguing that MiDA is not fit to participate in concession arrangement for the ECG as an adviser.
Also being sued are the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, (PURC), the Attorney General’s office and the Energy Commission.
In the suit, Mr. Salia argued that, MIDA is not fit to participate in concession because its conduct breached Ghana’s laws after it authored and circulated a draft tariff methodology.
Mr. Salia explained that “the reason for the breach is that, MiDA as well as the IFC [International Finance Corporation] collaborated and forged a document purported to be coming from the PURC, and the Energy Commission and to that extent, they allowed that fraudulent document to fill the part of the transaction process.”
“That is the reason why I decided to take them to court to get them to explain to the court and the Ghanaian people why the transaction should not be truncated after the forged document has been recovered,” he added.
Mr. Salia also indicated that, “there are documents to prove that the Energy Commission did not know about the forged documents.”Already, ECG workers have embarked on a two-day strike to protest the deal.
But the press statement from MiDA explained that “the MCC has confirmed that the Government of Ghana has met all requirements and the Compact entered into force as of Tuesday September 6, 2016”
“I am happy to advise that yesterday we met all the conditions precedent to Entry into Force of the Compact and submitted all the required documentation in that respect,” Ing Owura Sarfo, Chief Executive Officer of MiDA said.
He added that the Government of Ghana now has five years to implement the Compact Program.
The Compact II
Under the Power Compact, six projects will be implemented to address the the root causes of the unavailability and unreliability of power in Ghana
The project include ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, NEDCo Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project, and Access Project.
The rest are Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency, and Demand Side Management Project,.
The Government of Ghana signed the Ghana Power Compact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent United States government agency, on the sidelines of the US Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington on August 5, 2014.
Ghana to get over 498m dollars
Ghana signed the Power Compact with the United States of America acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent United States government agency, on the sidelines of the US Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC on August 5, 2014.
The Ghana Power Compact would provide Ghana with a grant sum of four hundred and ninety eight million, two hundred thousand United States Dollars (US$498,200,000) to improve the performance of Ghana’s power sector, unlock the country’s economic potential, create jobs, and reduce poverty.
About US$350 million of the grant is being invested in ECG to make the country’s power distributor operationally and financially more efficient.
The Compact is being implemented by the Government of Ghana through the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA).
–
By:Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
.
