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The Ghana power sector in crisis
- There has been an increase in power cuts
- The ruling party alleges wants to privatise sector
The Minority spokesperson on Energy in the Ghanaian Parliament, Kobina Tahir Hammond has described the attempts by the ruling party to, privatise the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as “senseless”. The Mahama led administration has appointed the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) to lead the privatisation process.
According to Mr Hammond, privatization is not a solution to the current challenges faced by the ECG. He said, “Nobody can fix ECG. Privatizing the company is a very bad idea and so government should check it again. What I know is that ECG is really suffering and we need to help it grow and not privatized it”.
Another Member of Parliament, Adansi Asokwa has said, the problem of the ECG is the incompetence of the government and its Ministries, Departments and Agenciess (MDA). He accused the government ministries of owing the ECG. “Every single ministry in the country owes ECG and so the best thing is to pay them and not privatized them. Government should fix ECG before giving it to a different company. ECG can work so allow it to work by tightening up the system in terms of finances and resources and not allow any company to take charge” he stated.
The Ghanaian power sector has continued to face challenges in recent times leading to the frequent power cuts (dumsor).