The government and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are being accused of playing games by deliberately disrupting the purchase and supply of power to its customer in an effort to bring onboard another private power producer, akin to the botched Power Distribution Service (PDS) deal which was vitiated by fraud and lack of funds.
The PDS deal, which had many ruling party elements, including a barbershop operator taking over the ECG management and finances of ECG, was collapsed by a bitter boardroom wrangling over the shares and profits of the state-owned company, although they had not pumped a dime into the company at the time.
Last week’s problem, which both management and technical support staff of the ECG are unable to explain to customers, have led to the inability of the power distributor to provide electricity to its customers, especially those on prepaid meters.
Some ECG customers, were also unable to top-up electric power, leaving them in darkness most part of the week with the management of the company unable to explain what exactly the problem which started on Monday was and how to fix it as of last Saturday.
The technical challenge, has affected customers in 10 operational regional areas of the ECG in Volta, Kumasi, Accra, Takoradi, Tema, Cape Coast, Kasoa, Winneba, Swedru, Koforidua, Nkawkaw, Tafo among other places.
The state-power distributor was on Saturday forced to announce the extension of working hours at all district offices across the country.
It had seen the Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, cautioning that “the software glitches at ECG is a reminder to Ghanaian leaders to think critically as they continue to push this flawed idea of centralising all civic services in one Ghana Card database.”
He tweeted that in the event of a zero day or ransomware exploit occurring, the country will shut down. Some feel the disruptions were deliberately planned across the country. It has witnessed long queues at these places with customers complaining about their frustrations and inconveniences.
Insiders told The Herald that the government was setting the stage to pronounce ECG as inefficient and announce another private company to help with management services and distribution.
Details are sketchy, but the insiders have asked the public to keep an eye out on the ECG to see what Akufo-Addo government is up next for the state company.
The government whose conduct and corrupt practices in the PDS deal, led to the American government canceling a $190 million in grants to Ghana under the “Power Africa” initiative, has always maintained that it was looking for a strategic investor for the ECG.
The U.S. embassy, said termination of the grant, which occurred in October 2019, was in response to the Akufo-Addo government’s dissolution of the contract with the private utility provider.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government foreign assistance agency, agreed in 2014 to provide $498 million in funding to Ghana’s power sector to help stimulate further private investment.
The financing was the largest by the United States under Power Africa, which was launched in 2013 by then president Barack Obama and aims to bring electricity to tens of millions of households in Africa.
One reform under the agreement involved handing over operations at state-run Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in March to Ghana Power Distribution Services (PDS), a consortium led by Philippine electricity company Meralco MER.PS.
But Ghana’s finance minister informed U.S. officials on Saturday that the government was cancelling the 20-year concession it had signed with PDS, saying payment guarantees provided were not satisfactory.
In a statement, the U.S. embassy said the decision to terminate the contract was unjustified and that the MCC was therefore cancelling $190 million in grants.
The remaining $308 million will still be disbursed.
“The United States underscores the importance of contract sanctity as essential to a conducive investment climate and a pre-condition for inclusive economic growth,” it said.
Ghana’s Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told reporters that the U.S. announcement did not represent “a crisis of confidence” between the two governments.
“It has been a difference in opinion which we have mutually agreed to respect,” he said.
Meralco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
