Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare has welcomed the arrest of some fourteen persons in connection with the missing containers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
He, however, observed that the arrested persons are mainly those trading in the contents of the containers.
Prof Asare wants attention to focus on those who ensured the alleged procurement breaches, budget busting, shady structuring, fake contracts, questionable directives from above, and the abuse of sole sourcing.
In a Facebook post, the private legal practitioner said, “It’s good that 14 have been nabbed in the ECG container saga. These suspects appear to be primarily from the downstream — those trading in the contents of the containers.
“But the spotlight must also shine brightly on the upstream: the procurement breaches, budget busting, shady structuring, fake contracts, questionable directives from above, and the abuse of sole sourcing. That is where the rot starts — and that is where the real accountability must begin.
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“The ECG saga exposes the deep decay festering within our State-Owned Enterprises. What we need now is decisive, uncompromising action — one that holds everyone, especially those at the top of the rot chain, accountable. This must be the spark that launches Operation Save Our State Owned enterprises (OSOSO). Anything short of that will be nothing but another power theft in broad daylight — and this time, it won’t just be the lights going off, but public trust too.”
National Security which is leading investigations into the missing containers of goods and materials belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana arrested 14 persons.
They are made up of 10 foreign nationals and four Ghanaians.
This came to light yesterday when the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, visited the premises of Dangfang Company Ltd and Ponlok Manufacturing Company Ltd, near Shai Hills in the Greater Accra Region, as well as a warehouse at Kpone, to ascertain the quantity of missing cables uncovered by National Security.
“We will pursue and prosecute anyone found culpable over the missing 1,300 shipping containers and their contents belonging to the ECG,” the minister said.
Mr Jinapor added that the ministry would not hesitate also to secure a court order to sell the assets of persons and companies apprehended, after their prosecution in court to defray the cost of the items, and invest the proceeds in the national electricity grid to make power delivery more reliable.
At Dangfang Company Ltd and Ponlok Manufacturing Company Ltd, the minister, in the company of officials of the ministry, conducted a round the smelter and its warehouses, where cable drums and cables labelled as property of ECG were being smelted and converted to aluminum rods for export.
At Kpone, the minister was shown a large warehouse containing cables suspected to belong to the ECG.
