Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has explained the processes leading to the soaring revenues of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
He said prior to the digitisation of ECG’s operations, the power supply company was making an amount of GH¢450 million a month.
That figure of GH¢450 million was constant, and repeated for a period of four years without a change.
The Vice President who was speaking at the opening of the Church of Pentecost’s 2023 National Development Conference today, July 26, at the Pentecost Convention Centre at Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region said the situation compelled government to send a team of experts to study the revenue architecture of the company.
“The revenues were virtually constant. I said this cannot be possible; how can you get more customers and your revenue is the same,” he said, adding “the constant value was almost the same. They didn’t even take time to change the value.”
Dr. Bawumia explained that when the government’s team identified the problem and introduced an intervention to solve it, the team’s work [government team] was “sabotaged with malware by people [ECG staff] working right there.”
According to him, with the involvement of the National Security in the issue, the problem was solved and now the company now makes GH¢1.2 billion a month.
He said government was in the process of harmonizing data from institutions to aid development, saying that “When people are uniquely identified, it checks misbehavior.”
He said the government’s digitisation agenda has contributed significantly to the country’s economic growth and also reduced corruption.
Dr. Bawumia said although some of the digitisation processes received resistance from some quarters initially, people are now becoming accommodating to the process.
He mentioned the paperless ports system as an example of an intervention that was heavily resisted, including even Customs officers rejecting it.
However, he said, the paperless ports system has significantly benefited the state.
The Vice President, who was speaking on the essence of digitising the country’s institutions said the process will help to reduce corruption and offer better services to people.
Reading a speech on behalf of President Akufo-Addo at the programme, he said government was working to bring relief to Ghanaians.
He added that government was working around the clock to tame the soaring inflation and the exchange rate depreciation, saying “We are taking steps to taming inflation and exchange rate depreciation.”
Dr. Bawumia said the Akufo-Addo-led government “is determined to bring relief to Ghanaians and return the economy to high rate of growth in the three years preceding COVID-19.”
He said although the country’s economy was one of the fastest growing in the world in the last three years preceding COVID-19, the impact of COVID-19 coupled with the Russia-Ukraine war almost brought the economy to its knees.
However, he noted, the economy has started picking up and that the government will not relax its efforts to stabilize the economy from the shocks of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war.
National Development Conference
Touching on the conference and its theme, Dr. Bawumia commended the church for the initiative, saying that the programme should serve as a motivation for other Christians to live a Christ-like lives.
For him, morally upright life plays a major role in the development of a nation, pointing out that when people are morally upright, they will pay loans they take.
Some of the speakers at the event include the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin; Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo; former President John Agyekum Kufuor; Former Minister of Women’s Affairs of Zimbabwe, Dr Olivia Nyembezi Muchena and Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu.
Source: graphic.com.gh
