Government has cleared all debts owed ECG – Deputy Energy Minister

The Deputy Energy Minister, Hon. William Owuraku-Aidoo has revealed that the government of Ghana has defrayed all accumulated debts owed to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) since 2008.

He made this pronouncement on Kumasi-based Pure FM’s ‘Pure Morning Drive’ in an interview with Kwame Adinkrah monitored by MyNewsGh.com, of which he disclosed that the ECG now owes government an excess amount of GHC4 billion through the procurement of fuel for the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

He indicated that the exceptional management of the finances of the country and the power sector by the Akufo-Addo led administration is what has brought about the significant achievements and the servicing of all forms of government debts made up of “MDA bills, consumption by Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Government subscribes and shortfall in Public Lighting for the period between 2008 and 2020”.

He noted further that the incomparable leadership qualities exhibited by President Akufo-Addo continuous to send shock waves to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of the NPP’s competence.

“Kwame, it is God that we will thank for bringing Nana Addo as the President of Ghana at the right time. Under his able leadership, a significant milestone has been clogged in the management of the power sector and the finances of the country.

Sometimes it is very disturbing when you review some of the contracts signed by the NDC before they left office but thanks to Nana Addo’s competence, we have been able to service all debts owed the ECG from Mills to Mahama’s era and our time to the extent that ECG owes government an excess amount of GHC4 billion through the purchase of fuel for the IPPs.”

“In the nut shell, the management of the power sector and finances of the country have been extraordinary which warrant a second term for this competent administration,” the Afigya Kwabre South MP told Kwame Adinkrah.

The ECG in a press statement in May 2020 noted that the government of Ghana was indebted to the power distributor to a tune of 2.63 billion cedis as at the end of 2016 after a reconciliation exercise was undertaken by them with all its suppliers including VRA and The Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for the period between 2010 and 2019.

It noted that between 2017 and 2019, the government of Ghana averagely paid GHC2 billion directly to ECG’s suppliers to defray the government’s debt to ECG with a credit balance of 505.8 million cedis of which they qualified as “enough to clear the first quarter of the government’s 2020 bill which averaged 100 million cedis monthly.”