A group calling itself the Africa Energy Forum has reacted to the call by some staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to have the MD removed.

The group says the call is unfounded and coupled with lies.

The group in a statement said the move is orchestrated but some individuals with support from some senior and junior staff unions to see the MD removed for no reason.

They have asked the workers behind this agenda not to allow people to use them for their selfish interests.

Read the full statement below:

The Africa Energy Forum has followed with keen interest the attempt by some sponsored individuals of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to denigrate, peddle falsehoods and initiate an agenda to have the current MD Mr. Agyeman-Budu removed from office.

Some individuals with selfish interests are supporting some of the senior and junior staff unions by encouraging them to engage in several attempts coupled with baseless allegations and speculations in the past few weeks to have the current MD who has transformed the ECG removed.

They claim the ECG MD is incompetent but under his watch, the firm has seen enormous growth and transformation.

We wish to encourage ECG staff to ignore the illegal strike action which some staff embarked on today.

The action was also a breach of the rules of engagement since it was required for them to have served notice to our employers and the National Labour Commission 7 days before embarking on this needless bravado.

The persons behind this have failed to provide a single piece of evidence to support their allegation of breach of procurement processes.

Our own probe has revealed that some personalities with interest in the job at the ECG are sponsoring a few workers to embark on this agenda.

Our checks have revealed that the MD has put up 12 new customer service centers, seven district offices, and two warehouses.

He has refurbished 20 existing primary substations, constructed five new primary substations at Mataheko, Kanda, Legon, Ogbojo, and Agbogba with an interactive voice in Twi, Ga, Hausa, English, and Ewe.

He has also improved service delivery and reduced loss reduction, captured 117,000 SHEP meters, identified and set up in the CMS as last year.

He further improved nilling processes through the roll-out of the mobility app for meter reading, decoupling of meter reading, and distribution.

His achievements are also not limited to an energy recovery program process to improve system loss recovery.

He also negotiated and renegotiated deals saving the organization over Ghc20 million.,

There is also the monitoring of the distribution network to identify vegetation interference and weak spots for prompt rectification, and reduction in outages, among others.

As a Forum of Energy Journalists, we wish to admonish the persons fueling this agenda to stop it because there is enough evidence to support the achievements of the MD.

Further, there are 905 completed network development projects within the past three years in all operational regions of the country for reinforcement of primary distribution network, improvements in voltage profiles and upgrading and expanding of networks.

We conclude by commending the MD and ask him to continue his good works.

As a Forum, we assure him of our unflinching support in making the ECG more efficient and reliable.