PUWU ends demo against govt’s decision to give company to concessionaire
The three-day three-hourly demonstrations by members of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) in the regional and district offices of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) ended yesterday.
Advertisement
The protests, which began on August 24, were meant to mount pressure on the government to backtrack on its decision to give the ECG to a concessionaire.
At a news conference on August 23, the PUWU expressed the conviction that the ECG could be transformed to achieve the goals of the Second Compact of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) without private sector participation (PSP), saying that could be done through disciplined managerial and governance transformation devoid of political interference.
Customers stranded
Before 12 noon yesterday when the demonstrations ended, customers who had visited some district and regional offices of the ECG in Accra to buy power or request for other services were not served.
At the entrance of the Accra East Regional Office of the company, for instance, a notice had been posted saying work would resume after 12 noon.
“I am here to get a faulty meter replaced but I’ve been sitting here since morning and I’ve been told to wait until 12 noon,” Stephen Bannerman, a distraught customer, told the Daily Graphic.
“In the past three days, I’ve been coming here to enquire about my meter but they keep tossing me,” another said.
Charles Andoh, Daily Graphic reporter, talking to some disappointed ECG customers
However, the situation was slightly different at the Accra West Regional Office at Avenor.
The Daily Graphic team observed that while majority of the workers were demonstrating, a few of them had been left to serve customers, even though some customers complained that their needs had not been fully met.
Demonstration
Clad in red and black attire, the demonstrators chanted and danced to various songs.
They carried placards with inscriptions such as: “John Mahama, stop concession or we advise ourselves”, “MIDA must leave ECG alone”, “Concession is not the ultimate”, “ECG is a national asset, not a political tool”, “Set KPI’s for CEOs, the board and management of the company”.
The Greater Accra Regional Divisional Chairman of the union, Mr Daniel Yartey, said the workers were hopeful that the government would listen to their concerns at the end of the demonstrations.
In his view, the government was making a mistake by allowing a private partner to come on board in the management of the ECG, reiterating that it could operate efficiently if given the freedom to do so.
“We want the government to know that we’ll continue to fight until our concerns are taken into consideration,” he said.
‘More to come’
Mr Yartey stated that the demonstrations constituted the first step in a series of actions that the workers would roll out in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the union, Mr Eric Asante, said the workers would be waiting on their executives for the next line of action to take.
Tema
Della Russel Ocloo reports that ECG workers in the Tema Region converged on the company's new regional office to mark the third day of protests against the privatisation of the company.
Workers from the Ada, Prampram, Nungua and Dodowa district offices joined the protest.
They re-echoed calls on the government to seek alternative funding to resuscitate the company's operations.
The National Secretary of the Junior Staff Union of PUWU, Mr Frank Adjetey Badu, while addressing the media, called on the government to consider previous proposals submitted by the union for the company to be listed on the stock exchange.
"The example of Uganda which privatised the electricity sector, leading to its subsequent collapse, ought to be a lesson for Ghana not to go that way," he cautioned.
Mr Adjetey-Badu hinted that the leadership of PUWU would review the industrial action and advise its members about the next line of action should government fail to heed continued calls against its decision to give the ECG to a concessionaire.
