Prez Akuffo Addo and NPP on State Capture Agenda

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A renowned energy and financial expert related that, though his interaction with the Ghanaian publics, the signs are writing clearly on the walls that Ghanaians are disappointed in the performance; or lack thereof of the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

The expert is of the view that, considering the corrupt activities the President Akufo Addo government has been up to in the almost three years of his administration, it is evident that their final objective was to deceitfully ‘capture political power’.

The said ‘state capture’ is what they are using to change the laws and rules of the game to their advantage through illicit, non-transparent provision of private gains to their party members and some public officials.

‘State Capture’ is defined as “the efforts of a small number of people who use their power and influence to change the laws and rules of engagement to amass wealth at the expense of the state by stealing assets.”

“And it is undoubtedly the trade mark of this corrupt NPP government led by President Akufo Addo”, Alex Mould, former boss of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has said. He cited an example as the ‘State capture of the power sector (PDS saga)’.

“In my recent articles I questioned why everyone is quiet following the facts that emerged from the “FTI Report” and the “Government to Qatar delegation Report” that have exposed the gargantuan on-going state capture.”

“I will reiterate that ‘WE HAVE ALL BEEN PLAYED’”, he stressed.

The findings as indicated in the report are that, ECG insisted on getting approvals from the right authorities on every stage of the process and the need for thorough due diligence on the financial guarantee.

Despite this, there was clear and ample negligence by Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) advisors (the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Millennium Development Authority (MiDA)), Ministry of Finance, and the Vice President (Dr Mahmud Bawumia) of not applying good governance practices needed in many instances.

There was also a lack of due diligence especially in the approvals of the PDS local partners, and in the selection of the other foreign partner- the Angolan company ANergia SA- who was not initially part of the consortium.

The energy expert and former banker furthered his argument when addressing a section of TEIN members at University of Cape Coast (UCC) campus on Saturday saying that, “I guess the discussions going on are focused on how the 51% local content will eventually be split between the currently known shareholders and the real beneficial owners who can’t show their faces yet.

If this is not a case of “good” governance gone wrong in a well thought out ‘state capture’ scheme by the powers that be in a bid to engage a private sector company as the concessionaire for ECG, then I do not know what it is.

I was flabbergasted when I realized how a foreign firm like, Meralco, which is the only entity in the PDS Consortium that has the technical and financial clout to be in that Consortium, will allow itself to be used by the puppet masters that control government business to perpetrate this grand scheme”
In his recent article, just two weeks ago, he predicted the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) was going to increase tariffs mainly skewed towards the distribution portion of the power value chain.

Low and behold, just this week, Ghanaians woke up to news of 6 percent upward review of electricity tariffs. What this means is that, 51% of the revenue accrued from this increment goes to these ghost shareholders who cannot show their real faces.

“No wonder people are now using various ways to confirm if the president is really the same person they voted for. Hardship in Ghana is real and unbearable”, he said.

Also is the ‘state capture’ within the Oil and Gas sector. Where, Ghana lost 10% of the Aker block worth over US$2 billion and about 25% of the AGM block, both to foreign entities.

Considering what government stood to gain from the 10% interest, one cannot help but wonder why all options and possibilities were not exhausted before getting to this point.

“Can a government which takes decisions on such major issues without doing the necessary due diligence be trusted to manage our resources”, he quizzed and quickly added that, “the NPP government has clearly demonstrated incompetence in managing our natural resources; allowing its cronies to shortchange the citizens of our beloved country by tweaking procurement rules, policies, and laws.”

“These shows the values of our leadership have gone down the drain.”

Meanwhile, he posited that, Ghanaians owes H.E John Dramani Mahama (former president and 2020 flagbearer of the NDC party) a depth of gratitude for reshaping the destiny of Ghana under his tenure.

“This brings to mind the theme: “The Ailing Ghana and the Antidotical JM 2020”. Of course Ghanaians agree John Mahama is the antidote and still the best alternative to the ailing economy judging from recent corrupt activities of this NADAA- led inept government”, he elucidated.

By: Adnan Adam’s Mohammed