National Coordinator for the District Road and Improvement Programme (DRIP), Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has called on Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited to refund all monies and properties it collected on behalf of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) during its short-lived concession period.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Thursday, November 6, he insisted that the company must also issue a formal apology to Ghanaians for what he described as a failed and deceptive venture that denied the nation a critical opportunity to reform its power distribution sector.
“The PDS was an opportunity for us to fix the structural problems of ECG once and for all,” he stated. “We had a chance where people were giving us free money to build our capacity and strengthen our institution, but we lost it. The whole thing turned out to be a mirage.”
Mr. Vanderpuye expressed satisfaction that the government intervened to terminate the concession and that the long-standing legal battle had finally been brought to an end. However, he stressed that the resolution of the arbitration case must not end the matter entirely.
“I’m happy that there has been finality as far as arbitration is concerned, but the best thing to do now is to refund all the monies PDS collected on behalf of ECG and apologise to Ghanaians,” he asserted. “Every individual who was involved in that deal should also be made to face the law.”
In 2019, PDS took over the management of ECG under a 20-year concession agreement as part of the Millennium Challenge Compact between the Government of Ghana and the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The arrangement was meant to inject private-sector efficiency into ECG’s operations and improve power distribution nationwide.
However, the contract was short-lived. Within months, the government suspended and subsequently terminated the deal after uncovering that the payment guarantees presented by PDS, purportedly issued by Al Koot Insurance and Reinsurance Company of Qatar, were fraudulent. These guarantees were a central condition of the concession, designed to secure PDS’s financial obligations.
Subsequent investigations confirmed that Al Koot had not authorised the guarantees, a finding later upheld by Qatar’s Court of Cassation, which ruled that the documents were forged.
PDS later filed an arbitration case in London, claiming wrongful termination and demanding over US$390 million in compensation.
However, ECG, represented by Omnia Strategy LLP under the leadership of Cherie Blair KC, successfully defended its position, with the tribunal dismissing all of PDS’s claims in their entirety.
The ruling brought closure to years of controversy surrounding the PDS–ECG deal, which was once hailed as a cornerstone of Ghana’s energy sector reform.
Mr. Vanderpuye believes that while the legal outcome vindicates Ghana’s position, full accountability must follow. “We must all be interested in how to get PDS to refund every property and amount that rightfully belongs to ECG,” he emphasised. “Only then can Ghanaians have confidence that justice has truly been served.”