Convener for Energy News Africa, Michael Afful has expressed disappointment in how some media firms have reported the privatisation stories about the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
He explained that some media outlets are engaging in unclear reportage on the matter.
Reporting about those issues by the media is not clear, and that is unfortunate, he lamented.
He recounted that in 2014, Ghana, under President John Dramani Mahama, signed a power compact deal with the United States government.
According to him, the power compact was a $316 million partnership between the United States and Ghana to improve the country’s power sector.
“The power compact was executed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Ghana’s Millennium Development Authority (MiDA). The compact was to introduce private sector involvement or private sector participation in the electricity distribution system. Unfortunately, his government lost and could not complete it. Akufo-Addo took over and continued with it.
Initially the arrangement was that Ghana would own a 20 percent stake while the private sector would have an 80 percent stake. But after Akufo-Addo took over, they renegotiated the deal to allow Ghana to have a 51 percent stake while the private sector gets 49 percent, following which we saw the botched PDS deal.
President Mahama has once again taken over the government and is committed to the privatisation deal. The government is not selling ECG. The deal is that we have identified that ECG is making significant losses, and because of that, the transmission company, GRIDCO, is struggling; the generation company, VRA, is also struggling; Bui Power Authority is also struggling; the Independent Power Producers, which are responsible for the 60 percent of the electricity distributed, are also struggling because the revenue collection is inefficient. Therefore we have to allow the private sector to collect the revenue so that the ECG will take the required revenue to ensure efficiency in the energy sector chain.
Unfortunately, some media firms are engaging in false reports and informing Ghanaians that ECG is going to be sold, and some politicians have also jumped on it and are also peddling falsehoods. It is unfortunate and that must stop.”
Mr. Afful was speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM with host Kwabena Agyapong.
He said the energy minister-designate, John Abdulai, was also clear when he appeared before the Appointments Committee on what was to be done.
He said the nominee was clear that the process would be transparent and a competitive process would be used to ensure only qualified and capable firms are selected.
“Despite these assurances, some media outlets are still engaging in false reporting on the matter and informing people that ECG will be sold to politicians. This is not the best. It is rather unfortunate that ECG is making over 30 percent distribution losses. If you have been charged with a duty and more than 30 percent of the distribution is unaccounted for, that is problematic. We have gotten to a level to accept the private sector’s participation in the sector to ensure efficiency. We are not selling ECG as some have claimed.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
