ECG recovers over 1,000 missing containers after audit exposes lapses

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says it has retrieved more than 1,000 previously unaccounted-for containers from the Tema Port, following parliamentary scrutiny of its operations.

Acting Managing Director of ECG, Ing. Julius Kpekpena, told Parliament’s Energy Committee that the recovery marks a significant milestone in addressing long-standing logistical challenges that crippled the company’s work.

“So far, we have moved over a thousand containers. I’m happy to say that we traced all of the containers and we started moving them from the port,” Mr Kpekpena disclosed.

He further disclosed that efforts to improve electricity supply stability had also yielded results.

“We have managed to curb outages. We are not saying that we have eliminated outages, but we’ve worked to curb outages, and we are continuing to put in measures to make sure that we don’t go back to what we came to meet,” he noted.

The announcement comes months after an investigative report on ECG’s operations revealed that more than 1,300 containers that were meant to be cleared at the Tema Port could not be traced.

According to the committee that undertook the probe, ECG had reported 2,491 uncleared containers containing cables and other vital equipment, but an independent audit confirmed the presence of only 1,134, leaving 1,347 unaccounted for.

Prof Innocent Senyo Acquah, chairman of the committee, presented the findings to Energy and Green Transition Minister, John Abdulai Jinapor.

He explained that before 2022, ECG had a dedicated fund that received weekly allocations to clear containers. However, the practice was abandoned after the ECG board cited financial constraints.

In the interim, the company awarded contracts to two private firms to clear the containers, with one pre-financed by ECG.

Investigators, however, discovered that one of the companies did not hold the necessary licence to operate, raising red flags about procurement breaches.

The committee’s report also pointed to structural lapses within ECG’s administration, noting that the company had merged its procurement directorate with the Housing and Estate unit.

Further background checks revealed that the Director of Procurement lacked professional experience and membership in any procurement body, deepening concerns over governance and accountability at the state power distributor.

Mr Kpekpena maintained that the company was learning lessons from the crisis and assured that reforms were being pursued to strengthen transparency while sustaining improvements in service delivery.