How Chief of Staff lambasted ECG for allowing Mahama to pay his bills

The Managing Director (MD) of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has disclosed that the Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, criticized the company for not properly carrying out its duties, particularly with regard to the payment of bills by former President John Dramani Mahama.

According to the ECG MD, the company is responsible for reading the former president’s meter and submitting the bills to the Chief of Staff’s office for payment. However, this has not been done, leading to the Chief of Staff’s dissatisfaction.

The MD revealed that during a meeting with the Chief of Staff, she expressed her disappointment with the ECG’s failure to properly carry out its responsibilities. She stressed the need for the company to improve its services.

“We collate all former president’s bills and we send them to the Chief of Staff for payment.

“Let me break it down, former President Kufour’s bills are with us, we gave them to the Chief of Staff and she has worked on them. We also had former President John Mahama’s own…we tried to get in touch with him, and when we got the bills, for him, he has already been paying his own bills…Yes, he pays his own bills.

“…so, we had a meeting with the Chief of Staff and she told us her piece of mind and she told us exactly what we have to do because a lot of people would like to drop the problem at the political doorstep which is wrong,” he said.

Speaking in an interview with Peace FM’s Kokrokoo on April 18, 2023, Samuel Dubik Mahama maintained that there will be discussions with the former President to ensure that his bills are settled by the state, in accordance with the country’s constitution.

“So, from now onwards we are going to have discussions with him (John Mahama) so that moving forward it would be absorbed.

“I won’t put the blame at his doorsteps or make it political, it is my office, we were supposed to read his meter and take action by informing him that we will handle it, so, we now have put those structures in place after a very comprehensive conversation with the Chief of Staff.

He further assured Ghanaians that ECG is committed to providing reliable and uninterrupted power supply to its customers and that it will continue to work towards improving its services and addressing any challenges that arise.
He urged all customers to ensure that they settle their bills promptly, to avoid disconnection and any inconvenience that may arise as a result.

It may be recalled that John Dramani Mahama in an exclusive interview with TV3 in 2022 said that all he receives from the government is his monthly pension and that all other bills the state must cater for have not been attended to since he left office in 2017.

Mahama said he is footing a myriad of bills, including light, fuel, office rent, and travel expenses.