The former Chief Executive Officer for the Volta River Authority (VRA) says he disagrees with the workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on their stand on the privatization of the company.
Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, who is also the Chief Policy Analyst for Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options (GIPPO), said even though he disagrees with the agreement between government and the Millennium Challenge Compact, it does not give the workers right to plunge the nation into darkness as they are threatening. The energy expert was speaking on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa hosted by Bright Asempa on Thursday.
He stressed that: “I disagree with the ECG workers and I am not in favour of the agreement between government and the American Company. Government has employed them so they don’t have the right to say they will shut power for the whole nation or you will not work as a result of the government’s decision to privatize the ECG”.
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ECG workers begin ‘3-hour, 3-day’ protest Tarzan explained that “a worker does not have the right to say they will stop work and will put out light but if they do what they threatened to do, it will amount to sabotage and breach of contract between the government and the employee”. “If you want to protect your work that is natural but you can’t say you are dictating to the one who employed you so everyone who will sabotage the ECG should be sacked,” he added.
Ownership Dr. Wereko-Brobby said the people of Ghana must own the ECG and not foreigners. “Ownership should be Ghanaian. It should be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange so that every Ghanaian will be a share holder. In that way, it will still be for Ghanaians but it will mean government cannot take out anything from the ECG.”
The Chief Policy Analyst of GIPPO said “management of the ECG must be the best whether it is Ghanaians or foreign. We need knowledgeable people to manage the asset because we have so many knowledgeable people in Ghana who can manage ECG”. He called on Ghanaian engineers to come out to declare if they can manage the ECG. Tarzan OnuaFM “If Ghanaians are there, we should allow them do it or they should come out and say we can do it”.
25 years concession Dr. Wereko-Brobby said “we are giving it to private managers for 25 years and it will help because every government treats the state institutions like their personal property”. He added that “the government interference is too much in the public sector and ECG is no exception. They employ people whether they can do the job or not.
Contracts are awarded to cronies and all these are not helping the government companies”. He said with the privatization, all these will cease and that will help the ECG stand on its toes.
By Kweku Antwi-Otoo
