Some Barbers Own Majority Shares of ECG Concession - JJ Alleges

Former Deputy Energy Minister in the erstwhile Mahama administration, John Jinapor has disclosed that some barbering shop owners called X-Men in Accra are the beneficiaries of the PDS deal gone bad.

“ . . go to the barbering shop at OSU, X-Men, they have been given the concession to manage electricity in the country. We told the government that they cannot handle the job,” he disclosed to the host of 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Kwame Nkrumah Tikese on Okay FM.

He wondered how barbers can manage a company like the ECG.

"Those who own the barbering shop were managing ECG. If you are looking for someone to manage ECG then you have gone for barbers. What is the relationship between barbering and electricity, and they own the majority shares of the Ghanaian concession,” he reiterated.

He further revealed that the day the owners of Power Distribution Services (PDS) came to Parliament, there was no indication of office location on their letterhead, thus, he raised concerns on the floor of Parliament in that regard.

“The day they were coming to Parliament, they were not having any office and I raised it on the floor that what you are doing will bring disgrace and that is what we are seeing today,” he asserted.

According to him, investigations have been done on PDS and so he pleaded with the Akufo-Addo government to do what is right and necessary for the country; adding that the government should learn to collaborate with others to work together in order to do what is proper for the country.

Mahama Administration Would Have Done Differently With ECG Concession:

The Yapei Kusawgu lawmaker said that the Mahama Administration had moved political aspect from the ECG concession as they had decided to do it in a professional manner by advertising to request for qualification, proposal, grading of companies interested in the concession.

He added that the then Mahama government would have given the companies, performance indicators and then enters into an agreement for ECG to monitor the companies on a monthly basis and also share the profit with ECG.

He mentioned that “ECG assets would have been valued and made sure the measures put in place in the agreement are followed. There should be bank guarantee available”.

Graded Companies For ECG Concession:

“We even graded the companies into category 1 companies, category 2 companies, and category 3 companies. Manila was part of the category 3 companies but when NPP government took over and decided to change things in the roadmap, all the other companies withdrew,” John Jinapor revealed.

“When it got to the time to choose the best company to handle ECG, it was left with Manila and BSC and the government disqualified BSC and the company went to court . . . so only Manila remained the lone ranger in the bidding and as such, there will be nothing to compare with and this is where we are today,” he stressed.