Court dismisses ECG workers application to halt concession
The roadblock against the planned concession of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to a private entity was cleared yesterday following the dismissal of an interlocutory application by 1,001 workers of the ECG by the Labour Division of the Accra High Court.
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In their application for interlocutory injunction, the workers wanted the court to stop all processes connected to the implementation of the Ghana Power Compact, which included the concession of ECG, until the determination of their suit challenging the privatisation of the company.
Per the substantive suit, the workers insisted that the concession of ECG amounted to a redundancy, and as such they must be given a severance package per their collective bargaining agreement.
Irreparable damage
Delivering its ruling to dismiss the interlocutory application, the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Laurenda Owusu, held that the government of Ghana would suffer irreparable hardship if the application was granted and the workers lost the substantive case.
According to the court, the compact signed between the government and the United States of
America (USA) through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) was already in full force.
With regard to the concession of the ECG, the court explained that advertisements, conferences and other processes for its implementation had already begun.
It was the court’s view that the ECG workers were not in the position to compensate the government for any hardship it might suffer if the whole process was halted and the government emerged victorious in the substantive case.
On the other hand, the court held that the workers had nothing to lose if the interlocutory application was refused and they emerged victorious in the substantive case, as the government had the capacity to adequately compensate them.
“I do not see why the court should restrain the government of Ghana from continuing with the implementation process until the determination of the substantive case,’’ Mrs Justice Owusu said.
Mrs Justice Owusu, however, encouraged the workers and the government to continue with any dialogue process that was in place to foster mutual trust between the two sides.
She also promised to ensure the speedy hearing of the substantive case.
Power Compact
On August 5, 2014, the government entered into an agreement with the USA, acting through the MCC to make momentous changes in the power sector in Ghana.
Known as the Ghana Power Compact or simply Compact II, the MCC is expected to invest up to US$498.2 million to transform Ghana’s power sector and stimulate private investment.
The implementation agency of the compact on behalf of the government is the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA).
As part of the deal, the operations of the ECG have to be handed over to a private entity for a period of 20 years to ensure the transformation of the sole power distributor in the country.
Court case
However, that move angered the 1,001 workers of the ECG and on October 3, 2017, they dragged the government, MiDA and the ECG to court with a case that there must be a redundancy package for all ECG workers.
Joined to the suit as second plaintiff is the Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU).
According to them, on September 28, 2017, the Minister of Energy, Mr Boagye Agyarko, made a statement to the effect that the government would conduct redundancy negotiations with individual workers of the ECG.
Any redundancy negotiations and agreement, the workers said, must rather be done with PUWU and not the individual workers in accordance with the Labour Act, 2003, Act 651.
They, therefore, wanted a declaration that the decision by the Minister of Energy to conduct redundancy negotiations with individual employees of the ECG, including the plaintiffs, was illegal and constituted a gross violation of Section 65 of the Labour Act.
They also sought for a perpetual injunction to restrain the defendants, their assigns and privies from continuing with the Compact Agreement between the government of Ghana and the MCC signed on August 5, 2014 for the reform of the electricity distribution sector of Ghana by, among other issues, appointing a concessionaire to take over the distribution of electricity from the ECG and related agreements.
