Story by, Paul Mensah Nsor
Accra, Ghana - The Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Joshua Ansah, has led a forceful opposition to government plans to transfer operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) to private operators, describing the move as "full-scale privatization".
Speaking before a large gathering of journalists, union representatives and utility staff, the TUC’s Secretary General Joshua Ansah said the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition has already begun the process of appointing a transaction adviser to oversee what officials describe as “private sector participation” in ECG and NEDCO. But the union warned that the technical recommendations from the ministry’s Private Sector Participation (PSP) Technical Steering Committee would effectively split and transfer the distribution functions of ECG and NEDCO to private concessionaires from the bulk supply point through to consumer delivery thereby dismantling the current public utilities.
The TUC cited recent performance improvements under a six-month union-led turnaround programme, including a 90% increase in ECG's average monthly revenue collection, and argued that privatization would be premature and ideologically driven.
The union has demanded an immediate suspension of privatization actions, establishment of multi-stakeholder oversight boards, and clear deliverables for ECG and NEDCO managing directors. They also called for reforms to procurement practices and an end to political interference in the utilities' management.
The union’s statement set out a series of explicit demands and policy proposals, aimed at preserving the utilities as state-owned entities while scaling the managerial and technical gains that have been achieved. Key demands included:
The TUC warned of robust resistance to any attempt to transfer ownership or control of ECG and NEDCO to private entities, emphasizing the strategic importance of the utilities to Ghana's economic development and national sovereignty.
