Unions’ allegations are untrue - ECG MD

Kwame Agyeman-Budu, the Managing Director (MD) of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has described accusations and allegations levelled against him by the Unions as untrue.

The Junior and Senior Staff Unions of the Company had petitioned the Board for the dismissal of the MD, claiming he was not discharging his duties effectively.

The Unions alleged that the MD had been in office for close to two years and had shown lack of vision for the Company.

He promoted the outsourcing of the collection of revenue from Special Load Tariff (SLT) customers to third parties at a commission of seven per cent discounted rate and three per cent consulting fee, a service that was executed effectively by staff and other institutions for free, the Union said.

It also alleged a number of procurement process breaches under the “clear supervision” of the MD and that the Company's technical and commercial losses were galloping.

Mr Agyeman-Budu, in response through the Ghana News Agency, said the allegations were untrue and that the Company, under his leadership, had initiated the one-day one-service for new meters for customers.

He said ECG was currently undergoing a new Wifi project, leveraging on government to connect ECG’s offices (regions, districts, customer service centres, substations) with the fibre.

Mr Agyeman-Budu said claims that he did not approve the provision of adequate materials for the Company’s operations was because there had been shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding; “Most companies from whom we buy these materials folded up and were not producing, hence the little stock left was exhausted.”

He said accusations that there were no accessories for vendors were unfounded because ECG did not buy accessories for vendors. “What happens is that if you apply to be a vendor for ECG, you bring along your desktop machine to the ICT Directorate for the VPN to be installed onto it. Vendor buys a quota monthly and gets a percentage for selling power,” the MD said.

He said it was also not true that he stopped revenue mobilisation in June 2020, and explained that government subsidised electricity for some months and instructed that no form of revenue or disconnection of power should be done, with other companies like VRA, Ghana Water, and GRiDco, also adhering to the rules.

Mr Agyeman-Budu said it could not be true that he did not involve his three Deputy Managers in decision making, and that the “Deputy Managing Director Finance and Deputy Managing Director Human Resource are always around to advice and make positive suggestions on most of the things.”

Meanwhile, a Group of Concerned Staff of ECG, in a statement, corroborated the MD’s stance and said the call for his removal was “a mere orchestration of few individuals to serve their parochial interests.”

The Group said the MD was facing such opposition because he instituted “mystery shoppers” and continued to discipline and weed out bad nuts who extorted monies from customers.

It said the ECG, through prudent management, continued to meet its financial obligations to independent power producers (IPPs) and GRIDCO.

“These aforementioned entities, which used to complain about payments, do not any longer…It is now a thing of the past.”