Workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have welcomed a suit filed by Saka Salia, a member of the communications team of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), to stop government’s intended ECG concession arrangement.
Government intends to give the company to a concessionaire for 25 years, a decision which has led to a series of protests and lawsuits.
The National Secretary of the Senior Staff Union of the ECG, Patrick Tetteh Binyemi, who spoke in an interview with Class FM on Wednesday September 7, also indicated that the request for proposals concerning the concession released by MiDA was fraught with inaccuracies.
“We thank God so much that Ghanaians are now beginning to understand and appreciate our stance. Things are not being done right. Recently MiDA released a Request for Proposal (RFP) which lacked certain key issues that need to be factored. That makes the whole thing not credible,” he stressed.
One of such factors according to him was key performance indicators meant to monitor the performance of the concessionaire by the ECG, which has been excluded in the submitted proposal by MiDA.
Additionally, he said the tariff methodology that would serve as a guide to the concessionaire has not been finalised and was not included in the proposal.
Other legal issues and labour concerns have also been omitted and these are some of the reasons he claimed had been the basis for the rejection of the concession moves.
Mr Salia filed a suit at the High Court citing the Attorney General, Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), and the Energy Commission as the defendants.
He is seeking a number of reliefs from the court including a declaration that the conduct of MiDA “and it’s said advisor or consultant in authoring and circulating a said draft tariff methodology is improper and offends Act 538”.
He again described the conduct of MiDA regarding its use of the logo of the Energy Commission in the said electricity distribution and sale licence as fraudulent.
He wants any transaction in that regard to be declared null and void. Mr Salia believes his legal action is in the interest of the country and for the benefit of Ghanaians.
He said he was seeking a process that was transparent and devoid of fraud where workers would also not be cowed into submission as ECG is taken over by dubious means.
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