by Elvis Washington
Employees of the Electricity Company of Ghana in Tema embarked on a three-hour demonstration in line with the workers’ protest of government’s decision to cede the management of the company to a private entity.
Several workers, clad in red, downed their tools for three hours and carried placards to press home their demands. One of the placards read: “Government just be a little sensitive to the same people who voted you power.”
“Politicians stop dumping substandard meters on ECG,” another placard read.
Today [Wednesday] was the first of the three-day protest which ends on Friday which will see ECG offices shut down between 8am to 11am.
The Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU), which is spearheading the protest, has called on government to review the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact which seeks to cede the ECG to private investors for a period of 25 years.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday [Tuesday] when PUWU served notice of this protest, it urged government to rescind its decision which could lead to lay-offs if the MCC compact is implemented.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC), has thrown its weight behind PUWU indicating that dialogue between the unions and government is yielding no fruits.
The Public Services Workers Union (PSWU), has also thrown their support behind PUWU According to the National Secretary of the Junior Staff Union Frank Adjetey, the decision taken by government will affect Ghanaians negatively in the long run.
“The private investor is going to handle the tariff issue. As an investor you want to make profit, so whatever they can do to make that possible, they’ll do it.
The tariffs will affect all Ghanaians,” he told Citi News.
To read the full piece from Citi FM, click here.