Author's note: this piece was written on 20/7/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:
It was disheartening hearing that a Swedish company had been awarded a
management contract to run the Electricity of Ghana (ECG) - and that
their work would begin in the Ashanti Region.
Why do our ruling elites never learn from past debacles in such instances, one wonders?
What good did the Norwegians who managed the defunct Ghana Telecom (GT)
for a small fortune, do to GT's fortunes? Ditto Aqua Vittens Rand's
management contract to run the Ghana Water Company Limited?
Has it never struck the senior public servants who advise government
ministers that Japanese power companies could be persuaded to buy the
ECG, the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), the Volta River Authority (VRA)
and the Bui Power Authority (BPA), and assume all their debt as part of
the deal?
Ghana would benefit from such a deal in the medium to long term, by
having an efficiently-run and modernised power sector - and the
Japanese power companies would have the opportunity to expand in an
emerging market, from which they could export power to the lucrative
West African sub-regional market.
With respect, giving out management contracts to foreign companies, to
run state-owned Ghanaian power-sector entities in need of massive
infusions of cash, simply does not make business sense - and ought to
be swiftly shelved.
The time has come to privatise Ghana's state-owned power companies - as
the vast majority of Ghanaians have come to the conclusion that the
private-sector is better placed to provide them with reliable
electricity supplied on a year-round basis.
That is why it now makes perfect sense to sell the state-owned power
companies, to world-class companies with the wherewithal and technical
know-how, to modernise Ghana's power sector - and make it one of the
most efficient and reliable in the world. A word to the wise...
Tel: 027 745 3109.
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