Reinstate former MD now - ECG workers tell Prez Mahama

A section of workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has called on President John Mahama to immediately reinstate the former Managing Director of the company, Rev Ing. William Hutton-Mensah, or face the workers’ wrath.

They said the managing director could not be blamed for the current energy crisis, as the issue had to do more with power generation and not power supply.

The workers said the managing director should not be made a scapegoat for the current energy crisis the country was going through.

Although no reason was assigned for the removal of the managing director, the workers believed that their boss was being blamed for the current erratic power supply.

Although they were not certain of their next line of action if the President failed to heed their call, they did not rule out a sit-down strike.

Explanation

Addressing a news conference in Kumasi last Saturday, the Chairman of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Senior Staff Association (SSA) of the ECG, Mr Bismark Adomah, said the staff “needs an explanation from the President as to  why he has reassigned the managing director to the Ministry of Energy”, adding, “We want to know the rationale behind that decision.”

Present at the conference were members of the association, most of whom were clad in red attire and wore armbands. 

They also carried placards with inscriptions which called on the President to reinstate the managing director.

Mr Adomah said before the managing director assumed office, the company used to record system losses of 28.5 per cent, but within his short stay in office, “we managed to bring it down to 22.4 per cent. The target is to reduce it further to 18 per cent within the next three years”.

Even though he contended that the target was very ambitious, as the standard for the industry was 21 per cent, Mr Adomah said “it is achievable, as he had demonstrated that we can do it and has put in measures to ensure that target is achieved”.

Power supply 

On the power situation in the Ashanti Region, he said the region, as well as part of Dunkwa in the Central Region, received only 50 megawatts (MW) from GRIDCo for supply to its customers, as against the load demand of 240 MW for the region.

Out of that 50MW, he said, 11.88 MW had been reserved for areas that were supplied with constant power, including the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the Barekese Dam, the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council and the Manhyia Palace.

In effect, he pointed out that the ECG had only 38.12MW to supply to its customers in the region, explaining that the situation contributed greatly to the erratic power supply in the region throughout the week.

He wondered how that issue could be laid at the doorstep of the ECG when the problem “we are facing is power generation and not supply”.

Background

Last Friday, November 21, 2014, President Mahama, in a statement, directed Rev Ing. Hutton-Mensah to report to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum for re-assignment on resumption from his annual leave.

It asked that Mr Robert Dwamena, the Director of Procurement of the company, should act as the managing director.

The decision came in the wake of an intense load-shedding exercise, following which households and companies do not get electricity supply for several days.