PDS wasn’t a bad deal, greedy individuals cannibalised it – John Jinapor
The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, has criticised the now-defunct Power Distribution Services (PDS) deal, attributing its collapse to greed and political interference. Speaking on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, during the Government Accountability Series in Accra, Mr. Jinapor noted that while the idea of involving the private sector in power distribution was not inherently flawed, the implementation of the PDS arrangement was undermined by self-serving interests.
“We will not use the PDS approach to involve the private sector. Although the PDS concept was not a bad one for private sector involvement, a few greedy individuals chose to exploit the process for their own benefit and manipulated the share distribution among themselves,” he stated.
The Energy Minister explained that despite its flaws, the PDS model showed some initial promise. “If they had implemented what we are doing now—ensuring value for money, maintaining a competitive process, and reducing political interference—even in its flawed state, we could see that ECG’s revenue was increasing. This suggests that if we manage it better, we can achieve real results,” he added.
Mr. Jinapor emphasised that the government’s renewed efforts to involve the private sector in the operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) would not repeat the mistakes of the past. “I assure you that we will not be involved in the shares of the new private sector partnerships,” he said, insisting that transparency and accountability will be central to the new initiative.
Background of PDS Deal
The Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited takeover was a controversial deal that saw the government of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo award a 25-year concession to PDS to manage the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
The deal was signed in March 2019 but was suspended in July 2019 following allegations of fraud.
In March 2019, Ghana was set to receive a critical $190 million as part of the second tranche of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Power Compact. The funds were intended to support long-term infrastructure improvements and help the country’s energy sector recover financially.
However, the transfer was halted by the U.S. government after Ghana cancelled a concession agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS). Under the deal, PDS was to take over operations and management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). The MCC considered private sector participation a key part of the reform, and the collapse of the agreement jeopardised the compact.
In July 2019, PDS was found to have submitted invalid insurance guarantees as payment securities for the takeover. These were supposed to be either a demand guarantee or a bank-issued letter of credit. But due to difficulties in securing a bank guarantee, PDS proposed using a demand guarantee from an A-rated insurance company.
As a result, PDS submitted guarantees issued by Al Koot Insurance and Reinsurance, a Qatari firm. However, investigations later revealed that the documents included forged signatures and fake letters. It was also found that Al Koot lacked the financial capacity and legal authorisation to issue such guarantees.
This breach led to the cancellation of the concession and the suspension of the $190 million funding, dealing a major blow to Ghana’s energy sector reform efforts.
By: William Narh
