ECG chases parliament for non-payment of bills

Officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on Friday stormed the premises of Ghana’s Parliament House in Accra ostensibly to disconnect power supply to the House for non-payment of electricity bills over a period of two years.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that Parliament House owed ECG well over Ghc1 million, being accumulated electricity bills for the whole of 2013 and 2014.

Parliament did not pay any electricity bills for the period.

It took top officials of Parliament to plead with the ECG team for a ‘grace period’ to pay the arrears before the team reluctantly agreed.

The ECG officials were said to have expressed surprise and disappointment that a highly respected state institution such as the Legislature would accumulate its electricity bills for such a long period.

According to DAILY GUIDE sources, officials of Parliament were shocked at the amount the House owed ECG. Some were said to have speculated that some adjoining institutions were tapping into the meter being used by Parliament.

Meanwhile, it was announced as part of business for the week ending November 21, that the Minister of Finance will be presenting this year’s budget in Parliament on November 20.

This year’s budget is going to generate a huge debate as members of the Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) are gearing up to put the Minister to the sword for not meeting most of the set targets in the 2013/2014 budget.

The issue of mounting public debt, which is putting the country on the brink of a highly indebted country, will also be a huge concern for the Minority.

DAILY GUIDE has learnt that the Minority will be addressing the press on the upcoming budget in the coming week.

After yesterday’s sitting, the Minority MPs met with the flagbearer of the party, Nana Akufo-Addo, at his office but DAILY GUIDE was not privy to the subject of the discussion between them.