Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has strongly criticized the Minority in Parliament for their recent remarks regarding the selective payment of debts owed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

This response comes after John Abdulai Jinapor, the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee, accused the Ministry of Finance of engaging in discriminatory payment practices towards the IPPs.

Mr Mahama has dismissed the claims and labelled them as unfair.

Allegations of selective payment

The Minority in Parliament recently accused the Ministry of Finance of engaging in "selective and discriminatory payment" to some preferred IPPs, while leaving others to their own fate.

"The Finance Minister, instead of dealing with the Chamber of IPPs, is engaged in selective and discriminatory payment, selecting some preferred IPPs, paying them, and leaving them to their own fate," Mr Jinapor stated.

The Chamber of IPPs had earlier issued a threat to shut down all plants after July 1, 2023, due to the government's delay in settling a $1.7 billion debt owed them by ECG.

However, it rescinded its decision after a partial payment was made to the power producers.

ECG boss defends payments

But speaking on TV3's The Key Points regarding the Minority's statement on selective payment, Mr Dubik Mahama fumed that it was unnecessary for the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee to have made that statement, especially when negotiations were still underway.

"These are some of the statements that I think are so unfair because if you make this statement, it is based on what?" he asked.

"It's like having five children and thinking that all your children are the same. All your children are not the same.

"Look at all of them across the board and look at what happens when something happens," he noted.

Though Mr Dubik refused to divulge the details of the payments made to the various individual IPPs, he expressed worry over the probable jeopardy of the current ongoing negotiations with the IPPs, saying that "I honestly think it is not a fair statement to make because, in my candid opinion, there's an issue.

"If we are trying to solve the issue, imagine from that statement that we walk to a meeting with the IPPs and nobody wants to talk to us at the roundtable. That's an unfair statement. You don't make statements like that in public.”

Background

Samuel Dubik Mahama was appointed as the new Managing Director of ECG by President Nana Akufo-Addo in May 2022. He took over from Kwame Agyeman–Budu, who retired after serving for almost three years. Prior to this appointment, Samuel Mahama was a non-executive Director at ECG. He is a legal practitioner and a graduate of the University of Ghana.

Source: The Independent Ghana | Abigail Twumwaa Ampofo