MiDA sued over ECG takeover

The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has been joined as the fourth defendant in a suit in which five members of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) are protesting the privatization of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

The authority, tasked to undertake the process of inviting bids from prospective investors to take over the management, control and supervision of the company, is the latest defendant in the case, currently before an Accra Human Rights Court.

The plaintiffs, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, a pathologist; Naa Kordai Assimeh, a legal practitioner; Kingsley Kwasitsu, a retired teacher; Dr Adolph Lutterodt, an educationist and Ms Dede Amanor Wilks, a development specialist, had earlier sued the Attorney General, Minister for Power and the ECG, as first, second and third defendants respectively.

Affidavit

In the case of MiDA, the plaintiffs, in their affidavit in support of the motion for joinder, said in spite of the pendency of the suit, the authority had proceeded to hold a public event in a bid to select a private company to take over the operations of the ECG for 25 years.

According to Bright Akwetey, lawyer for the plaintiffs, the exercise being undertaken by MiDA is the exclusive preserve of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) set up under the Divestiture of State Interests Implementation Act, 1993 (PNDC Law 326), and not MiDA.

He said MiDA, unless joined by the order of the court, would continue to exercise the liberty of continuing with the process to select a private company to take over ECG to the detriment of the welfare of the people of the country.

Interested Firms

So far, 62 firms have reportedly applied to manage the ECG under the Compact Two of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) between the Government of Ghana and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the United States of America.

This demands that the ECG PSP provider should have relevant technical experience and a proven track record of helping electricity distribution companies of similar size and scope for the ECG to become profitable.

The companies which have expressed interest in the company are from Ghana, South Africa, the United States of America, Israel, Turkey, India, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

Case

In the substantive case, the five plaintiffs had argued in their statement of case that it is risky to entrust the administration of ECG to a private company, especially when electricity is a security asset of grave national importance and value.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer stated that ECG’s control by any foreign or other private company is likely to jeopardize the security of the country.

The plaintiffs contended that it is public knowledge that the government owes ECG $400 million, which has been withheld from the ECG deliberately in order to weaken its administration and prepare it for a take-over by a private company to the detriment of the economy of Ghana.