Dr. Manteaw laments unfair treatment of ECG
Energy expert Dr. Steve Manteaw has raised serious concerns about the potential privatization of state assets to strategic investors, cautioning against repeating past failures and advocating for alternative solutions.
In response to discussions about privatizing revenue collection for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Dr. Manteaw expressed strong reservations.
He was livid that failure to buy fuel for power plants resulting in power cuts smacks of a plan to give a dog a bad name and hang it
He emphasized that previous attempts at privatization in Ghana through strategic investors, such as Ghana Airways and Ghana Water Company, had been unsuccessful.
Instead, he proposed listing state assets on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) as a more successful alternative, citing examples like GCB Bank and GOIL as examples.
Dr. Manteaw warned against awarding revenue collection contracts to politically connected individuals and stressed the importance of accountability and reducing governmental interference.
He highlighted concerns about the potential impact of privatization to foreigners, as fees collected by private entities could be transferred out of the country.
Referring to a 2012 World Bank report warning of possible power cuts due to inadequate financial resources for fuel procurement, Dr. Manteaw lamented the failure to learn from past mistakes.
He urged prioritizing the power sector to address financial challenges and avoid a return to the power outages experienced during the dumsor period from 2013 to 2016.
Dr. Manteaw welcomed plans to audit ECG accounts and transition to a cashless system but criticized the presentation of information, which he felt often obscured the true state of affairs.
He questioned whether financial difficulties faced by ECG were deliberately engineered to justify privatization.
Despite acknowledging improvements in revenue generation by ECG management, Dr. Manteaw highlighted challenges such as non-payment of bills by public institutions.
He criticized the arrest of the Ashanti Regional manager for disconnecting Kumasi Technical University, emphasizing the negative impact of unpaid bills on ECG’s operations.
In terms of solutions, Dr. Manteaw called for prioritizing renewable energy and proposed that the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) invest in rehabilitating the Abosso Glass Factory to produce solar panels.
Overall, Dr. Manteaw’s remarks underscore the complexity and potential pitfalls of privatization in Ghana’s energy sector, advocating for careful consideration and exploring alternative strategies to address financial challenges while ensuring accountability and sustainability.
