The Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, says that he is being by some “big men”, friends and politicians over the ongoing debt collection some institutions.
According to Samuel Mahama, they want him to discontinue the disconnection exercise his company has embarked on.
The move is part of the company’s effort to retrieve an accumulated debt of about 5.7 billion cedis and prevent a total shutdown of operations due to an outstanding $1 billion owed to some Independent Power Producers.
Samuel Dubik 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.
Samuel 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 politicize 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 worse 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
