Gov’t assures ECG workers of adequate security

Mr John Abdulai Jinapor, Deputy Minister of Power, has said his outfit has put in place measures to ensure the safety of staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), following complaints of physical attacks on them.

The Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) contends that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission's (PURC) lack of consultation with management of ECG over directive to suspend new billing software, has caused public disaffection towards the company, leading to physical attacks on their workers.

The Minister in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after a dialogue meeting with the PUWU in Accra on Wednesday indicated that the Ministry has devised effective mechanisms to ensure the welfare and safety of staff of ECG.

“We have held meeting with the security agencies especially the Police to continue to provide them with whatever back up security that they need in the course of their duty, as the challenges are being addressed,” he said.

Mr Jinapor said the Ministry would engage the PURC to address the issue of the new billing software.

He some measures have been instituted to correct the defects in the software.

“We have made a lot of progress even with the software. We have put in some correctional measures even with the challenges that we have, the workers themselves believe that there were some isolated incidents where people’s bills went too high and that has been corrected and we shall continue to correct any challenges that comes up.

“For new software that covers about 3.5 million customers, you will certainly have challenges except that when those challenges come, you try and correct them but the question is that, you don’t allow the challenges to derail the process and to derail the progress that you are making,” he said.

He appealed to the public to cooperate with the ECG workers and remain calm as the challenges are being resolved.