Ghana: Electrical Contractors Association Denies Calling For Removal Of ECG MD

The Ghana Electrical Contractors Association, a group in the Republic of Ghana, has denied knowledge of a petition seeking the removal of the Managing Director of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr Kwame Agyeman-Budu.

According to the group, the said petition was not issued by the association, neither was it issued by their members.

In the view of the Association, some faceless people in the ECG or government are behind the purported petition with the aim of tarnishing the image of the ECG’s MD in order to get him removed and replaced with their favourite person.

Speaking in an interview with the President of the Association, Nana Addo Tetebo stated that the petition lacked merit.

“The petition is not coming from our secretariat and we think it lacks merit,” he said.

Touching on the issue of delay in payment for contracts executed by GECA members for ECG and PDS which was raised in the petition, the President of the Association noted that it is true that both ECG and PDS owe their members.

He, however, explained that the leadership of the Association held a meeting with the ECG MD in February 2021 and both parties agreed on a road map for the settlement of payments due to members of the Association.

He questioned whether it would be fair for an Association, which had met with ECG MD and agreed on a payment plan, to make a u-turn and demand the removal of ECG MD.

He charged those behind the purported petition not to drag the Association into any politics, saying: ”As an Association, we believe in dialogue and do not dabble in politics as the petition sought to create.”

Energynewsafrica.com’s checks at the ECG revealed that when the Power Distribution Services (PDS) Company Limited took over the power distribution business of ECG on March 1, 2019, under the concession because of the Ghana Power Compact II, PDS awarded contracts to some electrical contractors.

However, the Government of Ghana terminated the agreement on October 23, 2019, and returned the distribution business to ECG.

Energynewsafrica.com understands that the contractors assumed that once the business had returned to ECG, it should be able to settle all PDSs’ outstanding debts owed them.

Checks by energynewsafrica.com indicate that PDS had not handed over fully to ECG because it had filed a case in court challenging the Government of Ghana’s decision to terminate the transaction.

This apparently has made it difficult for ECG to settle the electrical contractors.

This development coupled with the implementation of the Cash Waterfall Mechanism which allows ECG to collect revenue from power sales and shared among players in the electricity value chain has also limited the flow of revenue to ECG.

Source: www.energynewsafrica.com