ECG ICT Directorate began Revenue Collection Digitalisation in 2016 –ECG workers

The staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has challenged a claim by Vice President Dr Muhamadu Bawumia that they sabotaged the government’s effort to digitalise ECG’s revenue collection.

To the workers, Dr Bawumia’s claim of sabotage, which dampened the morale of the hardworking workers of the IT Department particularly, was unfounded.

Disputing the claim by Vice President Bawumia, which seems to announce that the ECG began digitalisation under the current administration, the ECG staff said the IT Directorate already spearheaded the digitalisation of the ECG payment systems with the rollout of the ECG PowerApp and USSD(**226#*) services in July 2016.

“Dr Bawumia was only invited as a Guest of Honor on the 18th of February 2020 to launch the ECG PowerApp at the Head Office of ECG.

“In the 2023 signed SIGA–ECG Performance Contract, the average monthly revenue was GHS631.3 million as of early 2022. These documents are available to the public on the ECG website.

“The ECG IT Department has been at the forefront of digitalising revenue collection for decades, a fact that seems to have been overlooked. The sophisticated ransomware attack attributed to internal sabotage has been proven to be the work of an international cybercriminal group (Lockbit), which further exonerates our members from such erroneous claims,” the workers said in a statement issued by Michael Adu Mattah, General Secretary of Public Utilities Workers’ Union (PUWU).

The ECG staff said they prioritise initiatives that enhance efficiency and service delivery. “We further wish to put on record that the enhancement of aspects of digitalisation into ECG work processes by the current Management has improved convenience to our customers and commitment exhibited by staff has been the pivot of any observed improvement, especially in the area of revenue mobilisation.”

The workers expressed awareness of attempts to privatise ECG and urged stakeholders to refrain from disparaging hardworking members.

“We are fully aware of the several attempts by some key stakeholders to push for the privatisation of ECG and the deliberate attempt to give ECG a bad name and hang it.

“We urge key stakeholders to refrain from disparaging our hardworking members and instead recognise their contributions to national development, in the face of many challenges including the shortage of critical resources for smooth operations,” the statement said.