The former Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, appears to have been vindicated following the latest update on the missing containers saga by the Energy Ministry.

The Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, in April this year, declared that documents in his possession suggested that 1,346 ECG containers had gone missing from the company's inventory.

However, the former ECG boss, in a spirited defence on multiple media platforms, insisted that the containers could not have been missing and hence could be traced after a thorough investigation.

Speaking in an interview with TV3 monitored by GhanaWeb on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, Dubik Mahama vehemently rejected claims that the containers had vanished from the port and emphasised that the containers could still be in the possession of the port.

"Honestly, I want to say that I believe strongly the containers are still at the port. There are only two entities that have control of those containers. Let's bear in mind that the minister went to the port, a restricted area. Containers have a formula regarding how they exit the port (sic).

“This conversation would have been different if we were saying that the containers were in the custody of ECG and got lost, but that is not the conversation. The conversation is that those containers are at the port, so they are in the custody of the GPHA and Ghana Customs," he said.

Dubik Mahama questioned why ECG's containers would be put up for auction without the company's knowledge, adding that unpaid duties shouldn't result in covert disposal.

"ECG hasn't paid its duties. So why auction a container belonging to ECG without notifying ECG? Because in my candid opinion, that's the only way a container can leave the port," he stated.

Asked if he's saying the containers left the port without ECG's knowledge, Dubik Mahama swiftly responded, " I will be very careful to say if they have left. Containers don't get missing. A container is not like a piece of paper that you will fold and throw away. For international supply chain logistics, a container has a unique number and hence can be traced (sic)."

Background

In the first few weeks of the John Dramani Mahama administration, the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, claimed that documents he received from the then-Akufo-Addo government showed that over 1,300 containers of cables and other equipment belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG) were missing.

The minister set up a technical committee to look into the matter in April 2025.

The committee came out with findings suggesting that over 1,300 containers belonging to the ECG could not be accounted for.

The missing containers sparked controversy about potential corruption, smuggling, or poor supply chain management at ECG, with many castigating the erstwhile Akufo-Addo government.

It would be recalled that there were several national security swoops at places where the contents of the missing containers were supposedly found.

Interestingly, after weeks of further investigation into the matters by the committee, it turns out that the over 1,300 containers are not missing after all.

The Ministry of Energy, after a thorough probe, says that it has now found more containers than what the earlier reports indicated had gone missing.

It has now come to light that further investigations have revealed that out of the 2,637 missing containers, 2,583 have been found at various terminals at the Tema port.

This discovery was made by a special committee comprising representatives from National Security, the Ministry of Transport, the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA), and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

As of April 30, 2025, the containers were found at the following locations:

860 at Meridian Port Services

1,237 at GPHA Terminals

272 already evacuated by National Security

194 at Amaris Terminal

20 at ATLAS Manufacturing Terminal

BAI/VPO

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