The former Minister of Power, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has raised concerns about the outdated equipment used by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). During an appearance on the Ghana Tonight Show on TV3 on March 21st, the Member of Parliament for Pru East warned that the ECG cannot generate profits while running on obsolete gadgets.
He urged the management of the state power distributor to replace all outdated equipment to improve the ECG’s efficiency.
Also Read: ACEP vehemently cautions ECG over current revenue mobilisation effort.
Dr Donkor also called for the intensification of debt recovery efforts, urging the ECG to demand payment from all institutions owing money, including government institutions such as the Supreme Court, Parliament, and the Jubilee House.
He partially blamed the ECG for the debt owed by these institutions, accusing the state power distributor of succumbing to pressures from government institutions to retrieve its debts.
Also Read: Joy News’ Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah Honored at 2023 Ghana Science Association Special Recognition Awards
According to Dr Donkor, the debt issue is an attitudinal problem, as many government institutions believe there is one central government and that there can be debt settlement. To address this issue during his tenure as Minister of Power, he put the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance on prepaid. However, the ECG’s past failures to demand payment from government institutions have contributed to the current debt issue.
The ECG began a debt recovery exercise on March 20th, during which a task force visited institutions owing money, including Parliament, the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL), and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
The company introduced a digitalized system to ensure that the Managing Director could monitor the amount of money recovered during the exercise directly. The task force disconnected homes and industries over debts owed.
Laila Abubakar, the External Communications Manager of ECG, reported that Parliament owed GHS13 million, of which they committed to pay GHS8.5 million. GACL owed GHS28 million, of which they paid GHS10 million instantly, and the GBC owed GHS6 million, but they asked for 48 hours to pay the debt.
The ECG will continue its efforts to retrieve debts owed by institutions to improve its financial standing.