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Meralco said it received information that the operation and maintenance concession deal covering the assets of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has been terminated, the Philippines’ largest power distribution company, according to a regulatory filing submitted by Corporate Governance and Compliance head Jocelyn Villar-Altamira on Tuesday.
The concession was awarded to Power Distribution Services Ghana Ltd. (PDS) only last March.
PDS is a consortium of Meralco, through subsidiary Meridian Vetures Ltd., Angolan firm AEnergia SA, and three Ghanaian firms TG Energy Solution Ghana, GTS Engineering Ghana Ltd., and TBK Ghana Ltd.
Meralco controls 30% of PDS, while AEnergia SA has a 19% stake in the company and TG Energy Solution Ghana has 18%. GTS Engineering Ghana and TBK Ghana each hold a 10% interest in PDS.
The termination was principally due to alleged material breaches in the provision of demand guarantees by PDS.
“Based on the letter signed by Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of the Ministry of Finance of Ghana, the forensic audit by the auditors chosen by the Millenium Development Authority indicated that the purported demand guarantees were issued without due authorization and in excess of the mandate of Al Koot Insurance and Reinsurance, Qatari insurance firm, and were therefore invalid,” Meralco said.
The demand guarantees were key prerequisites and condition for ECG to turnover its assets and facilities to PDS.
“The same report also mentioned that there was no information available to forensic auditors to suggest that PDS committed fraud in relation to the demand guarantees,” Meralco noted.
PDS said it procured the demand guarantees in good faith and that it knew of no issue regarding the transaction until the concession was suspended.
PDS was planning to invest more than $580 million in capital expenditures to operate and manage ECG and improve the delivery of power services in Ghana, Meralco earlier said. —Ted Cordero/GMA News
A car crash on Monday left six people dead and 12 injured on a highway, about 94 km from Ghana’s capital Accra.
An eye witness said that an overloaded bus traveling from Accra to Kumasi was trying to overtake the other vehicles, and ended up colliding with a truck loaded with cement.
The injured were sent to three hospitals for treatment in a timely manner.
The cause of the incident is still under investigation.
The Public is hereby informed that the airport ceremonies that are usually held whenever the President travels, either on arrival or departure, will no longer take place.
Effective immediately, seeing off the President at the Banjul International Airport shall be limited only to the Minister of Defense, Minister of Interior, Chief of Defense Staff, Inspector General of Police, and Director General of the State Intelligence Service.
The Guard of Honour will now be required only during State Visits and Special Occasions. The adjustment is inline with ongoing reforms to optimize efficiency in the public service.
Meanwhile, the public is informed that His Excellency, President Adama Barrow will attend the first ever Russia-Africa Summit taking place in Sochi in the Russian Federation, from the 23rd -24th October 2019.
Five people died after looters torched a garment factory near Chile’s capital Santiago, bringing the death toll in violent protests to at least seven.
The military and police used tear gas and water cannon against protesters and a curfew was imposed in major cities.
A state of emergency already in place in Santiago is to be extended to cities in the country’s north and south.
The unrest, sparked by a now suspended metro fare hike, has widened to reflect anger over living costs and inequality.
There is set to be major disruption on Monday with many banks, schools and shops expected to remain closed.
Firefighters say they found five bodies inside the garment factory burned by rioters in a suburb of Santiago. Earlier reports suggested three others had died in a supermarket fire in Santiago on Saturday.
Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick said at least seven people had died in incidents related to the protests, without giving details.
In Santiago, almost all public transport was suspended and some flights at the international airport were cancelled or rescheduled because of insufficient crew.
At least one line of the city’s metro was expected to reopen on Monday after the entire system was closed on Friday because of the damage caused during the unrest, the worst to hit one of Latin America’s most stable countries in decades.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, says the International Monetary Fund supports Nigeria’s closure of its land borders because it understands that the action is not punitive.
Addressing newsmen in Washington on Sunday, Ahmed explained that the measure was intended to restore Nigeria’s relationship with its neighbors, based on commitments made.
She said that President Muhammadu Buhari did not want to approve the closure because he was mindful of the adverse effect it would have on the economies of neighbors.
According to her, there were several engagements between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries toward securing compliance to the rules, “but things got worse”.
“Of course, there will be economic impact on the side of our neighbours due to the border closure, that is a consequence of it.
“In a manner of speaking, IMF supports the border closure that we have done because they understand that the closure was not meant to be punitive.
“It was meant for us to restore our relationship with our neighbours back to the commitments that we made.
“The commitment that we have among these countries is that goods can come through their ports to Nigeria.
“They are supposed to come in sealed containers escorted to Nigeria for the Nigeria Customs Service to inspect the goods and charge them.
“But that is not what is happening. They allow containers to be opened, and also allow goods to be smuggled beyond the formal borders through several illegal routes,’’ she fumed.
The minister reiterated that Nigeria would ensure that rules were obeyed now that it had committed itself to the African Continental Free Trade Area,“ otherwise local industries will suffer.”
She said that a lot of discussions were ongoing between Nigeria and the affected countries toward securing their re-commitment to the rules governing cross-border trade.
UN agency surveys almost 2,000 people from Africa in Europe to pin down their motivation for migration.
Tragedy struck in the south-western Mbanza-Ngugu area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday when a bus carrying about a 100 passengers was involved in an accident.
At least 31 people were killed on Sunday and 16 others injured in a bus accident near the city of Mbanza-Ngungu in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, UN-backed Radio Okapi reports.
The administrator of Mbanza-Ngungu, Didier Nsimba, said the bus’ brakes may have failed, causing the accident.
He said some of the victims’ bodies have been taken to the Sonankulu General Hospital.
Some Kenyans have taken to Twitter to express their anger following a report in the Standard newspaper
that soldiers harassed residents of the coastal city of Mombasa during Sunday’s celebration of Heroes Day.
There was an intensified security operation in Mombasa as the country marked the holiday at an event attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta and other senior government officials.
The Standard reports that some residents were forced to swim in sewer water, while others were forced to sit in muddy puddles.
Some residents stayed indoors for fear of being “manhandled” by the army, the paper reports.
The army has not yet commented on the allegations.
A 23-year-old man identified as Chikore told the paper he was on his way to the venue marking the holiday when he was stopped by soldiers who said he looked suspicious.
“They wrestled me to the ground and later forced me to swim inside a filthy sewage. I tried to run but they hit me with the butt of a gun,” he said.
Tweeters called the treatment of “shameful” and “despicable”:
The newest party in the country dubbed Gambia for All (GFA) party which is founded by Bakary Bunja Dabo, has recently elected its officials at a local hotel in Kololi.
No official announcement has been made by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of the Party’s registration yet.
In a press statement issued to Foroyaa by its leaders, it is said the party held its constitutive congress from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th October, 2019 with three main objectives.
The objectives were to review and approve the draft constitution of the party; elect party officials; and establish guidelines in the form of resolutions on certain thematic areas of particular interest to the party.
These include development of genuine participatory democracy; women’s empowerment for sustainable nation building; youth participation in the national political process; and conquering the political space (at home and in the diaspora) – and challenges on GFA’s path to participatory democracy.
The statement said forty nine (49) delegations out of fifty three (53) constituencies graced the occasion, plus representatives from the Diaspora.
Overall, the statement added that, the congress was conducted in an atmosphere of peace characterized by seriousness and commitment.
Four officials have been elected and they are as follows: Party Leader and Secretary General is Bakary Bunja Dabo; Party National Chairman is Salieu Taal; Party National Treasurer is Ndambou Touray; and Party Chief Mobilizer is Fabakary Sidi Fadera.
The Party leader, Mr. Dabo, commonly referred to as BB Darboe, was Minister of Education for three years and vice president for ten years to late President Dawda Jawara and briefly worked for the AFPRC government as Minister of Finance.
He was a member of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) before losing the election to the post secretary general to Papa Njie earlier this year during the Party’s Congress. He later broke away from the Party and now established GFA Party.
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