Samuel Dubik Mahama, former Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has revealed that during President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s first term in office, the administration failed to invest in ECG due to its focus on privatising the state-owned power distributor.
Speaking in an interview with Joy FM on April 10, Mahama attributed the lack of investment to the government’s intent to hand ECG over to private management.
“If you cast your mind back, during the President’s first tenure, all efforts were geared towards sending ECG into privatisation. So, there was zero investment in the company,” he stated.
He referenced the controversial Power Distribution Services (PDS) concession, which allowed PDS to take over operations of ECG for approximately eight months before the agreement was ultimately terminated.
Following the cancellation of the PDS deal, ECG was reverted to full government control just ahead of the 2020 general elections.
Reflecting on his time as ECG boss, Mahama said that upon assuming office in 2022, one of his immediate priorities was to assess the company’s internal systems and overall health.
“When I assumed office in 2022 as Managing Director, one of the first things I did was to conduct a health check on the company… What I found was that although there had been massive growth in the number of ECG customers, this was not properly reflected in the company’s data,” he explained.
He also raised concerns about inefficiencies in ECG’s billing system, particularly as the customer base expanded.
“The billing system had its own deficiencies. When it hit the 4.5 million customer mark, new customers being added were not being captured in the billing system. They were hanging,” Mahama revealed.
By Najat Adamu
