ECG staff panic over privatisation rumour

StarrFMonline.com has gathered that some middle and junior staff of Ghana’s wholly-state owned but limited liability power distributor, Electricity Company of Ghana, ECG, fear losing their jobs when the company is privatised, as being considered by the Government of the West African country.

Last week, durbars were held in some branches of the company across the country to allay the fears of panicky staff.

StarrFMonline.com sources at one of those staff durbars in the capital, Accra, say branch managers dismissed rumours of ECG’s intended privatisation.

However, an MoU dated July 16, 2014 and signed by Minister of state at the presidency with supervisory role over allied state institutions, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, shows that the privatisation of ECG has been cited as a conditionality contingent upon which Ghana can access the second compact of the Millennium Challenge Account of more than $500 million.

The Memorandum, approved by Parliament on July 18, 2014 says: "The President has granted Executive Approval for the Second Compact of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) operated by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) of an amount of Five Hundred and Thirty-Five Million, Five Hundred and Sixty-Five Thousand United States Dollars (US$535,565,000.00) from the United States of America (USA) to be laid before Parliament."

The ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project is one of six major projects intended to be undertaken with the second compact, which, among other things, stipulates that there must be "evidence of the Government's intent to proceed with an Acceptable ECG Private Sector Participation (PSP) Transaction in a form and substance acceptable to MCC.”

Power supply has been erratic over the past few years with Ghanaians having to make do with intermittent bouts of load management regimes.