Let’s not politicise the ECG revenue recouping exercise - MD

The Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has urged the public to desist from politicising the revenue-recouping exercise by the company.

His comments come following reactions by the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei-Opare, to reports that former President Mahama was paying his own electricity bills.

Speaking on Accra-based Peace FM, the MD explained that although the Chief of Staff wasn't pleased about the development, it has been resolved.

"The arrangement in place is that all former presidents are not expected to pay certain utilities. As ECG, we didn't do our work well to follow up to read the meter and send the bills to the Chief of Staff. Truly, the Chief of Staff wasn't happy about the matter. So, what I want to say is that now, the situation has been corrected. We've met with the former president and his people, and moving forward, we will do the right thing," he said.

To him, what is currently happening in the energy sector is dire, and when politics is attached to their efforts to go after money owed to them, the aim of the exercise will not be achieved.

"As we are working to recoup monies owed us, if we try to play politics with it, the whole agenda will flop.

"Because you will meet people, and their response is that we voted for you, and you are coming to disconnect our power; when did that one too start?" he asked.

Background:

The Managing Director of ECG confirmed that former President John Dramani Mahama has been paying his own electricity bills.

Mahama, in an exclusive interview with TV3 in 2022, said that all he receives from the government is his monthly pension and that all other bills the state must cater for have not been attended to since he left office in 2017.

Mahama said he is footing a myriad of bills, including light, fuel, office rent, and travel expenses.

Responding to a question in an interview with Peace FM's Kokrokoo on April 17, 2023, Samuel Dubik Mahama explained that the electricity company collates all former presidents' bills and sends them to the Chief of Staff for payment; however, when they received former President Mahama's bills, they realised that he had already been paying his own bills.

The MD admitted that the fault lies with the electricity company for not doing their job well. He further explained that they are supposed to read the former president's meter and send the bills to the Chief of Staff for payment.

"We collate all the former president's bills, and we send them to the Chief of Staff for payment.

"Let me break it down; former President Kufour's bills are with us, we gave them to the Chief of Staff, and she has worked on them. We also had former President John Mahama's own…We tried to get in touch with him, and when we got the bills for him, he had already been paying his own bills... Yes, he pays his own bills.

"So, from now onwards, we are going to have discussions with him so that moving forward, it would be absorbed.

"I won't put the blame at his doorstep or make it political; it is my office; we were supposed to read his meter and take action by informing him that we would handle it, so we now have put those structures in place after a very comprehensive conversation with the Chief of Staff.

"She told us her peace of mind, and she told us exactly what we have to do because a lot of people would like to drop the problem at the political doorstep, which is wrong," he said.



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