The Public Utilities Workers’ Union (PUWU), a trade union that represents Ghanaian utility workers, has stressed the need for politicians to stop interfering in the work of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), as that is one of the major reasons undermining its efficiency.
The Union says politicians who lack the technical knowledge or any experience in the energy sector, most particularly the affairs of the ECG, have hijacked the core operations of the company and are causing havoc.
General Secretary of the Union, Timothy, who made the remarks, said politicians have taken over the importation of metres from the company and are importing substandard metres which are not for purpose.
Speaking in an interview on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, he disclosed that there are no meters readily available, and those that do exist are imported by politicians who are unfamiliar with meters.
He also mentioned that some meters are configured to be used in specific locations, but due to interference, these arrangements are ignored.
He was responding to the assurance given by President John Dramani Mahama that the ECG, as an organisation, would not be privatised but would allow private sector participation to ensure efficiency.
Timothy Nyame asserted that there is no difference between privatisation and the one proposed by the President.
“We have advised the government to ensure that when the meters are being provided, ECG technicians are involved so they will work on the meters or configure them to make reading and the collection of revenue more effective.
The politicians have hijacked the importation of metres without any involvement of ECG. That is a serious challenge for us. And when they import the metres, we have no say. We sometimes struggle to configure the meters before we are able to read them. It is important for politicians to stop interfering in our work. That is one of the reasons why the EC is struggling.”
He also claimed that some of the metres being used by the Ghanaian public are not in the system of the ECG because they were procured from connection men.
“There are consumers who have been struggling to get meters from ECG. They are tossed by ECG, and these individuals are attempted to get the metres from connection men, do illegal connections, and these issues amount to revenue losses. To address these concerns, we are proposing that the metres should be readily available, passing through ECG to allow for easy configuration,” he stressed.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
