Mahama’s ECG concession deal bad; reverse it – Ayariga to government

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentarian for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has urged the Akufo-Addo government to reverse the ECG concession deal that will see the management of ECG handled by a private entity.

The Concession under the Millennium Challenge Compact was secured by the Mahama administration following concerns that the ECG was inefficient.

Under the compact, six projects- the ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, NEDCo Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project and Access Project- would be implemented.

The rest are Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management Project.

The Ghana Power Compact will provide Ghana with a grant sum of US$498,200,000 to improve the performance of Ghana’s power sector, unlock the country’s economic potential, create jobs, and reduce poverty.

About US$350 million of the grant is being invested in ECG to make the country’s power distributor operationally and financially efficient.

The Bawku Central MP who was a Minister at the time the deal was sealed under the Mahama administration said the ECG concession agreement created a bad picture of the country.

He noted: “The entire deal is unnecessary” and stressed “My government took the decision but I think it was wrong”

He added: “I don’t support that because it really saddens me to think that a basic thing [like power distribution], we are not even talking about the invention of electricity, we can manage…I think we should rethink our position on the matter,” he said on News Analysis programme, Newsfile hosted by Samson Lardy Anyenini on Saturday, 10 March.