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Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has allayed the fears of Ghanaians that the termination of the Power Distribution Service (PDS) deal with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will affect the longstanding relationship between Ghana and the United States of America.

According to him, it was the Ghana and the United States governments that came to a conclusion on the resolution of residual matters of the Compact II agreement.

Briefing the media at the Ministry of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said that the Ghana government elected to terminate the concession agreement with PDS limited which was the properly selected concessionaire for the Private Sector Participation in ECG based on failure to meet the material and fundamental term of the concession agreement.

“On the Ghana side, we are able to compromise because we are advised and believe same to be true, that the concessionaire failed as initially suspected to meet the material and fundamental term of the concession agreement; which was to deliver and maintain valid payment securities for the transfer of assets,” he stated.

He added that, “on the American side, though the insurers have indicated that they do not intend to stand by the purported guarantees, the review is that termination is unwarranted and restructuring will be more tolerable”.

Therefore, the Information Minister indicated that upon announcement by the government of Ghana to terminate the PDS deal, the US side had de-obligated to make available the outstanding 190m USD in the 498 million USD compact.

“The Ghanaian and the American sides regret that we could not find a mutually agreeable path to have concluded the utilization of the full 498 million dollars,” he indicated.

The Information Minister, again, revealed that the necessary documentation have been filed with PDS and the Energy Commission on Wednesday morning to commence the termination of the contract.

He reiterated that the residual matters between ECG and PDS will be resolved with dispatch; thus. ECG has remained in possession of assets while PDS has been assisting it with some limited services in the period during which the concession was suspended prior to the termination.

“Government of Ghana and the United States Government will continue to work together on other development cooperation projects. This has not been a crisis of confidence between us and the Americans. It has been a difference in opinion which we have mutually agreed to respect,” he explained the situation.