Kwesi Pratt, Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, has lambasted the Mahama administration over reports that the Electricity Company of Ghana is to be managed by a private company.
Contributing to discussions on Peace FM‘s “Kokrokoo“, Kwesi Pratt opined that if the report of ECG’s privatisation is true, then it is a betrayal of the promise government made earlier that it was not going to do so.
Vice-President of the Department of Compact Operations Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Kamran M. Khan at the United States Embassy on Monday revealed that they have received communication from the government to the effect that ECG will soon be handed over to a yet-to-be named private company.
He however added that not all assets of the company will not be sold and the concession will last for 20 years.
Expressing his disgust at government’s decision, the Senior Journalist, was even more irked by the fact that the announcement was made by a US representative and and not by government.
To him, it shows government’s disrespect to the citizenry, and argued that even if the decision was a good one, why did it have to take the US Embassy to make a major policy announcement affecting the lives of Ghanaians.
“…major policy issues are announced at the US embassy when there is a minister for power, vice president and a minister for communication….I am ashamed, I never believed in my life that in Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana it is the US embassy that makes major policy announcements,” he told host of the show, Kwami Sefa Kayi.
According to the Insight newspaper editor, government rather needs to concentrate on making the commodity available to consumers instead of its penchant to sell any thing state-owned since records show the divestiture of public institutions, has not inured to the of Ghanaians.
He warned that government’s proclivity to hand over state owned properties to privater investor could soon result in the situation where the people of Ghana will be object of sale when there are no more public companies to be sold.
“The Electricity Company of Ghana is 100 percent owned by the Government of Ghana in terms of share-holding. You can privatize their job without altering the shares. So that Electricity Company of Ghana, it will still be 100 percent owned by the Government of Ghana.”
However, in quick rebuttal, Deputy Power Minister John Jinapor, denied that ECG has been sold saying only part of it will be “leased“, and indicated that it is to allow the company provide better service for its customers and improve efficiency.
Whiles admitting that the leasing of ECG is part of the prerequisites of the MCC tranche that will be released in December, he pointed out the announcement about the release of the ECG on concession was made by him and not by the Vice-President of the Department of Compact Operations Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
But still galled by the report, Kwesi Pratt said it appears Ghanaians are not being told the truth, and warned that should such deception continue “one day we, the people in the nation, will wake up and realize we have been sold out. One day, one day; we will wake up only to realize that they have sold us all.”
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(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)