President John Dramani Mahama has impressed upon organised labour to back government’s plan to introduce a private sector player in the operation of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
At a dialogue with the leadership of organised labour in Accra on Tuesday night, President Mahama clarified that the private sector player’s involvement would be in the area of metering and billing, assuring that the move would not lead to job losses as feared by the labour unions.
“ECG is not going to be privatised. Nobody will lose jobs because of the private sector participation. ECG will sell the electricity to the private sector and get paid for it.”
“ECG will get its money and pay its employees, but the private sector player would be responsible for billing and metering. For emphasis, it is not privatisation of ECG,” President Mahama stressed.
He was responding to objections by organised labour to what it said would be the privatisation of the electricity distributing company.
According to President Mahama, the energy sector has in recent times been suffocating in debt, with close to US$10 billion spent to address financial challenges including paying legacy debts over the last one year.
This, he noted, required urgent attention to restructure the ECG and the energy sector in general, hence the need for the support of the labour unions.
He assured that, “This reform is not designed against labour. It is designed for labour and for the long-term stability of Ghana’s public sector compensation system.”
On pensions, President Mahama indicated that with only two million out of the 10 million workers contributing to pensions, pension assets stood at GH¢100 billion, representing seven per cent of GDP, far below the continental benchmark.
“If we fail to act, the imbalance between contributors and retirees will continue to deepen, threatening the sustainability of the system and the dignity of future retirees,” President Mahama stated.
The government, through the Ministry of Finance, the President said, was taking steps to restructure, expand coverage, modernise contribution systems, and strengthen governance.
He said with the support of labour, a transparent and equitable remuneration and pension system could be built to ensure fair salaries as well as rewarding retirement.
“Our goal is clear; every Ghanaian must retire in dignity, security and confidence in the pension system,” he underlined.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
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