Strike to protest sale of ECG enters day two

Workers of power distributor, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), are continuing their sit down strike Monday to get government to shelve plans to privatise the power company.

The strike by the ECG workers is in adherence with a directive from their union body, the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) last week, which urged them to abandon their posts on Friday and Monday.

“All staff across ECG operational areas are to report to work but no official duties will be carried out today 2nd September, 2016 and Monday 5th September 2016,” PUWU in a circular said.

The staff will however resolve faults at critical areas like hospital theaters as well as security installations when they occur.

“All staff are to wear red attire to work on Monday. All the above actions are in protest of MIDA’s [Millennium Development Authority] gross disrespect, lack of transparency and lack of trust. All members are to take note and comply,” the circular said.

The Public Utilities Workers’ Union (PUWU), about a week ago, embarked on a three-day nationwide demonstration to protest the privatization of ECG, demanding a review of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, which they claimed has a road-map for massive lay-offs.

The exercise had all offices of ECG across the country, closed for up to three hours.

Meanwhile, out of the over 60 companies that expressed interest in the Private Sector Participation in the ECG, the Millennium Development Authority has shortlisted six, out of which one will eventually be selected as the concessionaire.

Two of the companies are consortiums while the remaining four are bidding individually.

Barring any last-minute hitches, ECG should be handed over to a concessionaire in January 2017.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com