Workers of state power distributor Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are demonstrating nationwide against the planned privatisation of the utility company.
Unionised staff of the company staged a simultaneous demonstration on Thursday June 23 in Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern and Central regions.
President John Mahama earlier this month, at the opening ceremony of the 2016 edition of African ICT and Mobile expo, MOBEX, said ECG will need to be privatised in order to make it more efficient.
Thirty-three companies have already expressed interest in the concession arrangement to operate ECG from January 2017 under the Millennium Development Authority.
Under the deal, government’s partnership with the private sector will help the ECG collect its debts more efficiently and transform ECG in terms of technology and efficiency in power distribution to become a stronger company, able to meet the current and future needs of Ghanaian families and businesses.
However, the senior and junior staff of the company across the country say they are against the privatisation, arguing that management had not made the process transparent to them. They said they also feared they may lose their jobs under new management.
Meanwhile, the ECG has, lately, suffered severe criticisms from the general public over anomalies in its billing system.
