SHOULD THE ELECTRICITY COMPANY OF GHANA BE SOLD?

 By Nii  Adjei

A rousing debate that has greeted government’s intention to offload yet another state asset has met mixed reaction from the general populace.  Indeed the inane taste for diversification of our state assets continues to be the order of the day. Can somebody tell me what the people of Ghana gained from the dissolution of the Jute Factory, the Nsawam Cannery, the Saltpond Ceramic Factory and the rest? The price of privatization. Where did all these end us “Highly Indebted Poor Country?

The Breton Woods institutions, principally the World Bank and IMF were the main originators of these privatizations and sales. Former President JJ Rawlings subscribed to the structural adjustment reforms during our dire straits. These were proposed as panaceas to our ailing economy as the state’s involvement in private business was deemed to be too invasive and a heavy drain on the sullen state purse.

The process of divesting state assets that had been set up and accrued principally throughout the first republic under Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah was to be implemented by a committee, the divestiture implementation committee. Their main objective was to see to the offload of state assets into private hands. The reasons for such a move was for improvement in the general account books of the companies involved and also for lessening of government debt and subventions which were directed at these groups of companies.

The sad truth however is that , this committee functioned ironically to sell these same companies to private individuals with state connections such as the sale of the Nsawam Factory to the wife of then President under whose watch these facilities where supposed to be revamped or sold for the better. Cronyism knew no bounds and that resulted in the utter sales of several companies whose names can now be found only in the history books of this country.

 The question then is that, Should another state asset such as ECG be sold in order to satisfy our benefactors for an MCA compact? I think the answer to this lies in evaluating what we’ve been able to do with GOIL and GCB BANK. These two state institutions were confronted by similar challenges and through the introduction of private participation through enlistment on the Ghana Stock Exchange, their fortunes have turned for the better as can be seen from their account books.  Therefore, the way to go would be the Private Public Partnership module which would enhance greater accountability and reduce political interference leading to better management and ultimately company viability. Vital state assets shouldn’t be sold off, as these sometimes cushion the populace from the pressures of a profit driven private enterprise. If GCB and GOIL were able to turn their fortunes around, why not ECG?