Muster political will in ECG saga – US Senator

THE Chairman of the Foreign Relations Sub-committee of the United States (US) Senate on African Affairs, Chris Coons, has urged government to brace the odds in efforts to enhance the operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Senator Coons, who led a ten-member US Congressional delegation to Ghana, said it was crucial that government took some hard decisions to ensure reliable and sustainable power for Ghana’s development.

“It's my hope that political will, will exist to make the hard choices in front of us and to make progress together in providing access to power,” he told dignitaries at a forum hosted by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) yesterday in Accra.

The Senator hoped that Ghana would make significant progress in the steps that have to be taken for the utility sector to be able to take advantage of the partnership.

ECG Concession

The ECG concession saga turned controversial in 2016 when workers of the company organised series of strikes and demonstrations at a time when the country was already enduring power crisis, popularly called 'dumsor’.

The then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) supported workers and promised it would take a second look at the compact agreement when voted into power.

Since winning power in the 2016 elections, President Nana Akufo-Addo has attempted to review portions of the contract. Instead of the 25-year lease, the prospective owners of ECG will now have 20 years within which to own the power distributor.

The President also assured that the workers will no longer be laid off after five years. In what was meant to be the biggest news from the negotiation, the company, when privatised, will have 51% of its shares owned by the Ghanaian private sector.

However, some civil society groups have kicked against the deal, protesting that 51% shares to be owned by Ghanaian investors still does not make the ECG any better off going forward.

They would rather government adopts a joint venture agreement between ECG workers and the new concessionaires.

Power and govt’s industrial agenda

Stressing the importance of power for the success of government’s flagship industrialisation policy – the ‘One district, One Factory’, Senator Coons said: “If you want to have a manufacturing plant in every district, there has to be electricity.”

Power Africa, he noted, had the potential to deliver electricity to 50 million people in Africa was sure to make a difference in terms of children studying at home, improving healthcare delivery or manufacturing.

The MCC models identify with what the African nation's own development priorities are, the Senator said, adding that "we don't show up and say these are our development priorities, would you like our money?”