The Minority in Parliament has asked the Mahama-led administration for full disclosure on the entities being contracted to supply US$80 million worth of meters for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Despite the the approval of the loan on Thursday in Parliament, the Minority members say they do not even know the suppliers.
[contextly_sidebar id=”SHsXnIGODbaT9dcLpWXUPRrCmhnHUQS2″]According to them, the only clear detail is that the loan will come from local banking giant, Cal Bank.
While backing the need for the state to retool ECG to improve its efficiency, the Minority MPs have said the deal covering the procurement of the electricity meters is not detailed enough.
This new procurement deal follows widespread complaints from consumers about anomalies in electricity bills.
The problem has largely been attributed to ECG’s faulty meters but President John Mahama, has given assurances that effective measures will be taken to rectify the problem.
‘We don’t even know the suppliers’
Speaking to Citi News, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto, relayed the Minority’s concerns saying, “We are borrowing US$80 million from a local bank. As at now, we don’t know who are the suppliers and this House should put its foot down. Even though government has not decided the part of who is going supply it, we should know.”
As far as details are concerned, Dr. Osei Akoto indicated that, he would “suggest that we should make it a condition of who is going to supply it, whether they are local or foreign.”
Government has already spent US$99 million on importation of meters
The Deputy Minister for Power, John Jinapor, has already revealed that government has so far spent about US$99 million on the importation of pre-paid meters.
The said amount, according to the Deputy Minister, was spent on procuring about 100,000 meters between 2012 and 2015, to aid ECG and NEDCO with easy collection of revenue for the country’s power distribution, as well as help customers to manage the use of electricity.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana