The US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson has rejected claims that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), is being privatized under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) compact two project.
According to him, the US government through the MCA compact two project is not proposing the privatization of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). But Speaking to Citi Business News, Robert P. Jackson explained that assertions that seek to link the MCA to the privatization of ECG is wrong. He however emphasized that ECG will continue to be a public utility owned by the people of Ghana.
“I have been using every opportunity to be clear that what we want is to help ECG to be successful. To do that we believe we need to bring in a private operator with innovative ideas that would assist the company.
But we are not supporting , we have not advocated, we do not advocate the privatization of ECG, ECG will continue to be a public utility owned by the people of Ghana and it would be operated for the people of Ghana that is the key point of the Millennium Challenge Corporation,” he stated.
The government in its quest to restructure and streamline the operations of the power provider, ECG, disclosed it is going to allow for private sector participation to allow the national power distributor to make profit and provide quality of service to its clients.
The Public Utilities Workers’ Union (PUWU) has expressed skepticism about government’s insistence that ECG is not being privatized. The Union insists that privatization is in two forms, giving up ownership or giving up control. The PUWU has therefore urged the government to consider listing the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on the Ghana Stock Exchange to revamp the company.
According to them, this decision will help the national power distributor to raise funds to run its operations in the country. But the US Ambassador argues that the terms of the compact project two is to allow for private sector participation to deal with the inefficiencies both technically and operational to better the fortunes of Ghana’s power provider.
“The plan is to make this company more efficient, more viable financially because it is so heavily indebted at this point; and to put in place a contract for a private management for the next 25 years in order to ensure that the next generations of Ghanaians have reliable power. After the 25 years it is up to the government and the people of Ghana to decide on what to do,” Ambassador Robert P. Jackson further observed.
