The Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU) has expressed their displeasure at the government for going ahead to renegotiate the new terms for the second compact of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) without first consulting them.
According to the PUWU, consulting them could have given the government a greater perspective on things that needed to be reviewed.
The ECG workers in a position paper released on July 22, 2015 stated that they are against the decision to give the company to a private company under a concession arrangement.
They argue that government’s decision to privatise the company because of inefficiency would not address the challenges facing the energy sector.
But the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured that no staff of the ECG would be laid off under the second Millennium Challenge Account (MCC) compact programme.
According to the President who spoke at the May Day celebration held at the Black Star Square on Monday, there have been a successful renegotiation of the Compact II programme, which has seen a reduction in the tenure of the concession arrangement from 25 years to 20 years.
He also disclosed that, under the new arrangement, Ghanaians are going to own 51 per cent stake in ECG which many see as a strategic asset of the state.
But the General Secretary of the Public Utilities Workers Union Michael Adumattah Nyantekyi in an interview with thebftonline.com questioned the basis for the renegotiation undertaken by the government which he said did not have their input.
“This whole reduction of the duration from 25years to 20years, we don’t know what the considerations was. This is because we don’t still think that giving out ECG for 20 years to any investor is right. The statement is coming at a time when we thought the President had made a lot of promises which included he initiating some form of dialogue but today as far as we are concerned there have not been any form of dialogue.”
The Ghana Power Compact signed between the MCC and government in 2014 has remained a controversial issue, even though the agreement was expected to improve the management of ECG as well as open the country’s energy market to independent power producers.
It was also expected to upgrade power infrastructure and strengthen the capacity of ECG to improve on its service to customers.
