Court cautions govt over ECG bidding process

The legal battle between 1,001 workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the government over the planned concession of ECG to a private entity began yesterday with the Labour Division of the Accra High Court cautioning the government over the bidding process.

That was after Mr Martin Kpebu, counsel for the ECG workers, informed the court that the bidding process for the concession was still ongoing despite an interlocutory injunction filed by the workers.

Mr Kpebu said he was aware that the part of the bidding for private participation in ECG took place recently at a hotel in Accra.

In view of counsel’s concerns, the presiding judge, Mrs Justice Laurenda Owusu, told the defendants (The Attorney-General and the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) to take notice of the interlocutory injunction filed by the workers.

“You know the effect of the interlocutory injunction,’’ she said.

In his response, counsel for MiDA, Mr Patrick Tetteh, stated that he would inform his client accordingly about the existence of an interlocutory injunction.

Background

On October 3, 2017, the 1,001 workers dragged the government and MiDA to court to challenge moves to hand over the operations of ECG to a concessionaire without any redundancy package for them.

They are asking for a declaration that the decision by the Minister of Energy to conduct redundancy negotiations with individual employees of the ECG, including the plaintiffs, is illegal and constitutes a gross violation of Section 65 of the Labour Act.

That section of the Labour Act requires that negotiations for redundancy pay must be conducted between the employer and the workers union, among other provisions, and also constitutes unlawful interference with trade union activities.

The plaintiffs are praying for an order directed at the defendants to comply with the provisions of the Labour Act, go through the proper redundancy process as laid down in Ghana’s laws and pay the plaintiffs redundancy pay (severance package) in accordance with the stipulation in the law and the collective agreement between the workers and the ECG.

They are also seeking a perpetual injunction to restrain the defendants, their assigns and privies from continuing with the Compact Agreement between the government of Ghana and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on August 5, 2014 for the reform of the electricity distribution sector of Ghana by, among other issues, appointing a concessionaire to take over the distribution of electricity from the ECG and related agreements.

Interlocutory injunction

As part of their case, the workers also filed an interlocutory injunction seeking an order from the court to restrain the concession process until the determination of the suit.

At yesterday’s hearing, a Principal State Attorney, Ms Grace Oppong, told the court that the Attorney-General’s (A-G) Department had already filed an affidavit opposing the interlocutory injunction.

Mr Tetteh, however, informed the court that MiDA would file its affidavit in opposition very soon.

The presiding judge, therefore, adjourned the case to October 19, 2017 to allow all the parties involved to file their respective documents.

“Kindly file and serve the respective parties accordingly, Mrs Justice Owusu said.

Lawyers for the ECG workers are expected to move the application for interlocutory injunction on October 19, 2017.