Energy Analyst with the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), Kodzo Yaotse, has praised the Public Accounts Committee’s directive for the immediate prosecution of all ECG staff implicated in unauthorized, out-of-budget spending.
This follows the committee’s public hearings on the Auditor-General’s report, which revealed that ECG exceeded its budget across thirteen line items without board approval. The report highlighted significant overspending in areas such as staff fuel, communication, consultancy, and stakeholder expenses.
Ranking Member of the Committee, Samuel Atta-Mills, recommended that the managers involved be referred to the Attorney General’s office for prosecution, citing gross financial indiscipline.
Speaking to GHOne TV, Mr. Yaotse said the move has been welcomed by many energy sector players who believe it will promote greater accountability and financial discipline within the utility provider.
“I think this aligns with what has been happening within the utility sector for quite some time now. We’ve consistently raised concerns about some of these issues and even proposed measures to enhance efficiency in the company’s operations. So, from where I sit, it’s not surprising that these developments are occurring – they’ve been recurring over time.
In fact, the only semblance of accountability we’ve witnessed is occasional changes in management, but there’s been no real sense of personal accountability among the company’s managers. Therefore, the suggestion that they should now be held criminally liable for the company’s financial challenges is a welcome one and something we fully support.
The government, to its credit, has already begun a process to transfer management and control of the company from the state to allow private sector participation aimed at ensuring both financial and operational turnaround. That process is still ongoing, and we expect it to be concluded within a reasonable timeframe.
Ultimately, this will ensure that ECG is no longer under the direct control of politicians but managed by an entity that can be properly regulated by the PURC. As it stands now, it appears that the government is essentially regulating itself – with PURC overseeing ECG – and the recent public exchanges between the regulator and the regulated entity clearly demonstrate how undesirable that situation is for effective governance of the sector.”
On his part, Executive Chair of the Food and Beverages Association of Ghana, Rev. John Awuni, called on the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to suspend all tariff review processes until a comprehensive audit of ECG’s performance is completed.
“I was not shocked at all by what the committee uncovered – not in the least. In fact, what we have been doing over the past few months has been a series of exposés on the operations of ECG. The petition we submitted to His Excellency the President detailed numerous inefficiencies – poor worker attitudes, lack of accountability, weak governance structures, unreliable metering systems, and faulty meters, among others.
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We not only highlighted these problems but also proposed practical measures to help streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Our consistent call has always been that efficiency must come before any tariff adjustments. What the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament has done only confirms the issues we’ve been raising — exposing the deep-rooted rot within the ECG.
This development further reinforces our position that any tariff increment at this point would be a grave injustice – to the ordinary Ghanaian, to industry, and to everyone who depends on electricity for their livelihood. The PURC must therefore suspend any plans for tariff increases until there is a proper realignment and demonstrable improvement in efficiency within ECG.
For the company to overrun its budget by nearly 200 percent is simply unacceptable – totally unacceptable. It shows clear mismanagement and disregard for accountability, and the Ghanaian people should not be made to bear the cost of such inefficiency.”
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/Benjamin Sackey
