By: Deborah Amewoyi
Minority Leader of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has debunked some allegations made by former CEO of the Volta River Authority (VRA),
Dr. Wereko-Brobbey regarding Mr. Afenyo’s tenure at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Reacting to a question during a media interaction on TV3, Dr. Wereko-Brobbey called out Afenyo-Markin alleging that his [Afenyo-Markin ] tenure at the ECG coupled with the leadership of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has resulted in the current issues plaguing the ECG. He indicated that until Afenyo-Markin accounts for his role as board chairman, he should not comment on the current economic status of the company as well as further criticise government’s GH￠1 Energy Sector (Amendment ) levy 2025.
“The minority in Parliament should shut up. The problems we are facing are largely due to their failure or irresponsible acts while in government. Afenyo-Markin should account for ECG’s huge losses in 2023/2024. If he can do that, maybe we will start listening to him” Dr. Wereko-Brobbey commented.
In response, Afenyo-Markin in a post on his official facebok account described the allegations made by Dr. Wereko-Brobbey as misleading. First he revealed that he was never board Chairman of the ECG in 2023, rather he was appointed by former president Nana Akufo-Addo in July 17, 2024. “it must be clearly stated that I was not the Chairman of the ECG Board in 2023, as Dr. Wereko-Brobbey suggested. I was appointed by His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on 16th July 2024, and officially sworn in as Board Chairman of ECG on 17th July 2024.” Afenyo clarified.
Indepthly, the minority leader stated categorically that his six months tenure at the ECG were directed towards enforcing reforms directed towards reducing loses at the Electricity Company of Ghana. “Dr. Wereko-Brobbey’s claim that I must account for ECG’s “huge losses” in 2023 and 2024 is therefore, respectfully, misleading, unsupported, and factually inaccurate. Since assuming the role of Board Chairman, I led several reforms aimed at streamlining ECG’s operations and reducing losses.” he stated.
He stated that some reforms he undertook during his tenure were; Abolishing outdated procurement model with a transparent and accountable system were payments are made at after verified delivery of goods at ECG’s office, the pursuance of Loss Reduction Programme aimed at tackling systematic revenue losses at the ECG due to malfunctioning meters and modernisation of ECG’s metering infrastructure and expanding prepaid metering coverage and closing the loopholes that enabled non-technical losses. He added that these reforms through out his six months tenure never resulted into tarrifs increment.
He pointed out the fact the the current government have increased tarrifs two times within six months blaming the increase on “deep-rooted inefficiencies.” within the company.
“It is therefore misguided to resort to frequent tariff hikes or new levies without fixing these deep-rooted inefficiencies. These are the real inefficiencies we must address. Without meaningful reforms, no amount of revenue generation through levies will resolve the challenges ECG faces.” he stressed.
Conclusively, Alexander Afenyo-Markin underscored the fact that he appreciates constructive criticisms but advised that claims or comments should be verifiable or factual.
Calling on Dr. Wereko-Brobbey, Afenyo-Markin ended. “I welcome dissenting views, but same must be grounded in verifiable facts. Your comments are unfortunate and do not reflect the spirit of constructive national discourse. If you possess evidence to substantiate your claims, I challenge you to present it publicly.”
