The Ministry of Energy and Green Transition has launched an investigation into the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) procurement activities during the Akufo-Addo administration, following concerns over excessive spending and financial mismanagement.

Energy Minister John Abdulai Jinapor revealed that ECG’s procurement practices resulted in thousands of containers being held at the ports, incurring demurrage costs estimated at GHS 1.5 billion.

“It’s all because they are engaged in what I call very frivolous procurements. Now, they have about 3,000 containers stuck at the ports, generating demurrage of about GHS 1.5 billion, which is very unacceptable. Some of the things they’ve procured will last them ten years, some will even expire in five years,” Jinapor stated in an interview on TV3.

To address the issue, he announced the formation of a committee tasked with scrutinizing ECG’s procurement decisions and assessing the financial impact of the stranded containers.

“So we’ve commissioned a committee to investigate ECG’s procurements and the cost of these containers stuck at the ports. The committee is doing a very good job,” he added.

According to Jinapor, early findings indicate that past ECG management engaged in improper procurement practices, exacerbating inefficiencies within the company.

“So far, the preliminary reports I have gotten indicate that there’s massive rot at ECG.”

As part of broader reforms, the Minister disclosed plans for a comprehensive audit of the energy sector, including human resource and technical assessments.

“But beyond that, there will be another technical report. What the PwC has done is a financial audit. We want to do a human resource audit, a deeper audit of the entire energy sector, which will then give us a clear picture of the inefficiencies so that we can tailor that in terms of our policy objective and policy directive to address this.”

With these measures, the Ministry aims to curb inefficiencies, enforce accountability, and enhance the sector’s overall performance.