Four Important Misinformation About Recent Matters Related To The ECG And What Government Should Do

1. Workers of the badly managed and cash strapped Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) should stop the mischaracterization of the origins of the reform of ECG! Private sector participation in distribution was anticipated as part of the 1994 power sector development policy and should be seen as part of the evolution of power sector reform in Ghana which includes establishment of an independent regulator, introduction of IPPs, creation of GRIDO among other things (see the book “Power –Sector reform and regulation in Africa – Lessons from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Namibia and Ghana”). The Compact provides a mechanism for the Government of Ghana (GOG) to realize this next step in reforms!

2. Mischaracterization of Private Sector Participation PSP: This is not a privatization. The GOG will still own the assets and they will be leased, for a fee, to the private sector concessionaire over a period of 20 + years.

3. Misinformation about layoffs: Several news sources have quoted thousands will be laid-off from ECG. The source of these figures is unclear. The PSP feasibility study did not state this. This is a publicly available on MiDA’s website

4. Misinformation in the press about the announcement: GOG announced decision to concession ECG through a competitive, transparent process. This was announced by Deputy Minister Jinapor during a MiDA procurement forum on April 30th. The MCC VP did not visit Ghana until mid-May. (Some journalists are saying that MCC and/or the US Ambassador announced the concession – this is not true:) .

5. MY ADVICE: There is a need for the Government of Ghana to champion this process. The government made the decision (endorsed by Cabinet) to pursue a concession and therefore they need to be “out front” with respect to implementing the government’s decision and communicating with the public. The GOG has set a goal of releasing the tender documents by end of 2015. This will only happen if high-level GOG stakeholders are decisive and focused over the next four months during the structuring process. IMANI already supported the process much earlier.(see http://imanighana.com/imani-report-electricity-privatization-conundrum-ecg-is-not-for-sale/ ) We will do our best to help with this together with ACEP, Sydney Casely-Hayford of OccupyGhana and GIPPO under Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey and other interested stakeholders.

Franklin is President of IMANI
Respectfully yours,
Franklin Cudjoe
Founding President & CEO, IMANI