The Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has disclosed that he has been receiving calls from some “big men”, friends, and politicians over the collection of unpaid debt from some institutions.
According to Mr. Mahama, they want him to discontinue the disconnection exercise his company has embarked on.
He made this disclosure in an interview on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, after the power company’s massive disconnection exercise.
The move is part of the company’s effort to retrieve an accumulated debt of about GH¢ 5.7 billion and prevent a total shutdown of operations due to an outstanding $1 billion owed to some Independent Power Producers.
Mr. Mahama explained that putting the operation on hold is not one to consider having considered the financial stretch on the company and the risk it stands if it fails to pay its debts.
“How do we pay the Independent Power Producers? How do we pay GRIDCO? How do we pay VRA? It is a shared responsibility,” he stated.
He also suggested that engaging companies who are in arrears discreetly would not yield much and expected results.
Mr. Mahama, however, debunked calls that the disconnection exercise was geared toward personal sentiments and a move politically driven.
“I don’t see myself as doing politics, I see myself now as a technocrat. The biggest mistake we could ever do is to politicise the work done by this office,” he said.
He intimated that the exercise is solely to see unpaid debts retrieved and not to favor anybody from any political party as suggested by many.
Meanwhile, ECG has encouraged customers to pay for their power consumption whether they receive their bills or not to avoid being disconnected from the grid, adding that it cannot continue to provide services if it is unable to settle its debts and in a worst-case scenario shut down.
“We are not going to be able to provide electricity to everybody because we are going to shut down. It is a simple equation, ” he said.
The ECG has been faced with an unpaid debt by consumers which is steadily suffocating the operations of the company. But, it hopes to recoup a substantial amount after the one-month-long exercise is covered.
By Leonora Enyonam Annoh | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
