Energy Analyst Benjamin Nsiah has thrown his weight behind growing calls for the privatization of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), arguing that it is time Ghana embraced structural reforms to improve efficiency in the power sector.
Nsiah cited examples from other African countries where privatization has led to greater results and better service delivery in the energy sector in an interview on Morning Starr with Joshua Kodjo Mensah on Thursday, July 18.
“I think that efficiency comes with a new reform at ECG. And I do agree with people who call for either partial privatization, or total privatization of it,” he said.
“If you go to a country like Ivory Coast, they’ve privatized the whole power sector value chain — from generation to distribution — and they are doing quite well.”
Nsiah also referenced Morocco as another country that has seen progress after introducing privatization into its energy space.
“They have also done a bit of privatization in their power sector. And they’re also quite doing well,” he noted.
In other countries, they’ve liberalized the whole sector to engage other competitors… so that at the end of the day, the consumer benefits from this particular competition and efficiency from all sectors.”
He, however, acknowledged the resistance to privatization in Ghana, often driven by fears of job losses and wage cuts among ECG staff.
“In Ghana, whenever you mention total privatization, it becomes an issue, because people think that ECG is a hit asset, and for that matter, we should not privatize it,” he said.
“You get workers coming to talk of not privatizing it because they are going to lose jobs, or they’re going to be setting cut, cutting measures by the new owners or new investors of ECG.”
Nsiah concluded by urging policymakers and stakeholders to take an emotion-free, objective look at the issue. “It’s not a competition, but I think we need to critically look at it devoid of emotions,” he advised.
