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Govt clears GH¢2.63bn legacy owed ECG
The Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu says the government has cleared the GH¢2.63 billion legacy debts owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Addressing a press briefing in Accra yesterday, he said, as at December last year, the government had paid the full amount of electricity bills and currently had a credit balance of GH¢500 million with the power distributor.
In order to remain current on bills expected to be paid by the government since assuming power, he said an annual payment of GH¢2 billion was made to the ECG from 2017.
“As of December 2016, when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) left office, the bill owed ECG by the government at that time was GH¢2.63 billion.
On assumption of office, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ensured that it was current on all the bills incurred during its tenure, from 2017 to date. On the average, President Akufo-Addo has paid GH¢2 billion annually to cover its bills with the ECG,” he added.
With an average electricity bill payment of GH¢100 million per month, the Minister explained that the GH¢500 million credit balance would cover government’s electricity bill from January to April this year.
Additionally, he said unreconciled additional payment of GH¢4.14 billion by government to fuel suppliers of power producers, which were yet to be credited to government would position the country toward addressing financial challenges crippling the sector.
In this regard, the Energy Sector Reform Programme designed to improve the sector, Mr Amewu noted, has been approved by cabinet to ensure a reliable and effective electricity company in the country.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, in his sixth address to the nation, announced government’s decision to absorb the electricity bills of consumers as part of measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus disease on Ghanaians.
He said as part of the measures, government would fully absorb the electricity bills for people who consumed zero to 50 kw/h of electricity for the periods of April, May and June.
He added further that, for residential and commercial users, government would absorb 50 per of the electricity bills using March 2020 as benchmark.
The decision, he said, was to support industry, enterprises and the service sector, as well as provide some relief to households for lost income.
Ghana’s confirmed cases of the disease is presently 5,918 with 31 deaths and 1,754 recoveries.
As it stands, the country’s active cases are 4,128 with five persons in critical and moderately ill conditions at the various treatment centres.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
Photos from the High-Level Event on Reparatory Justice for the trafficking of enslaved Africans and the racialised chattel enslavement of African people, convened at the United Nations Headquarters, New York.
Delivering a powerful address, President John Dramani Mahama underscored the moral urgency of confronting historical injustices and advancing a global commitment to reparatory justice.
“The entire transatlantic slave trade was designed to deny African people their humanity,” the President stated.
Highlighting the significance of ongoing international efforts, he added:“This resolution allows us, as a global community, to collectively bear witness to the plight of the 18 million men, women, and children whose homes, communities, names, families, hopes, dreams, futures, and lives were stolen from them over the course of four centuries.”
In reaffirming the enduring truth of justice, President Mahama noted:
“Just because everybody is doing something doesn’t make it right. Slavery is wrong now, and it was wrong then. For as long as Africans have been trafficked and enslaved, there have been abolitionists who have spoken up against it.”
He further called for a deeper reflection on identity and dignity:
“We must also remember to reclaim our own humanity… when we absorb too much of the language of violence and erasure, our minds become enslaved.”
A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Beatrice Siaw, has expressed mixed views about Ghana’s current leadership, saying she admires President John Dramani Mahama but is not fully satisfied with how the country is being governed.
Speaking in an interview on Metro TV on Tuesday, she said although she belongs to the NPP, she finds it difficult to criticise the President personally.
“I admire President Mahama, so it’s hard to speak against him. But I do love my party. I am impressed with the President, not necessarily impressed with how things are going” she said.
She acknowledged that the NDC has made efforts in managing the economy and improving some key indicators. She noted that the party appears determined to prove critics wrong after previously being voted out of office.
“They are trying to do a lot of things that Ghanaians thought they couldn’t do when they were in power,” she said.
However, she was quick to add that these efforts may not necessarily translate into electoral success in the next election cycle.
When asked whether the NDC’s performance could pose a strong challenge in 2028, she said she does not believe so, although she admitted there have been some improvements in certain areas.
“In some aspects, yes,” she said when asked if she had been impressed by the government’s performance.
By: Jacob Aggrey
