Former Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has strongly criticised the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for donating 200 motorbikes to the Ghana Police Service.

On Monday, December 11, 2023, ECG donated these bikes to the Ghana Police Service as part of ECG's initiative to enhance police operations nationwide.

Pru East MP and Member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, condemned the gesture, deeming it highly irresponsible on the part of ECG given the company’s indebtedness to Independent Power Producers.

On his part, ECG ‘has no business’ taking on the government’s responsibility of providing logistics to the power producers.

“I read with shock on Tuesday that the Electricity Company of Ghana had donated 200 motorbikes to the Ghana Police Service. Ordinarily, any such donation would have attracted my approval.

“But with this particular one, ECG has no business taking over the responsibility of the state to provide logistics for the Ghana Police. ECG is in debt for billions of cedis,” he fumed.

He went on to lambast ECG over its indebtedness to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and urged the Ministers of Energy and State Enterprises to investigate the “irresponsible” act of ECG for appropriate action.

"Indeed, 2 weeks ago, the Minister of Finance had to intervene to stop Sonon Asorgli from shutting down because of ECG’s indebtedness to IPPs.

For an entity that cannot pay its indebtedness, they have no business buying motors for the Ghana Police.

“ I call on the Ministers of Energy and State Enterprises to call the ECG management to book.”

ECG, the country’s main power utility, buys electricity from various generation companies, including Independent Power Producers (IPPs), and distributes it to consumers.

However, the ECG has been unable to pay for the full amount of power it purchases from the IPPs, resulting in a huge debt of about $1.4 billion as of last month.

Meanwhile,in July this year, Independent Power Producers threatened a power cut to the national grid if the government did not pay at least 30% of the outstanding debt—a move that was expected to cause a major national crisis or even re-introduce the country to ‘dumsor’ but for the intervention of the finance minister.

This debt has affected the operations and sustainability of the IPPs, who control 50% of the country's generation mix

They have also rejected any proposal to restructure the debt, saying that they need to repay their lenders and suppliers

The government and the ECG have been trying to address the debt issue and prevent power cuts by implementing various measures such as the Cash Waterfall Mechanism, the Energy Sector Recovery Programme, and the Energy Sector Levy Act.