{"id":100757,"date":"2025-10-29T04:56:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T04:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=100757"},"modified":"2025-10-29T04:56:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T04:56:00","slug":"ecg-blows-gh%c2%a2189m-beyond-budget-without-approval-pac-fumes-at-financial-indiscipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=100757","title":{"rendered":"ECG blows GH\u00a2189m beyond budget without approval \u2013 PAC fumes at financial indiscipline"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 34 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has come under intense scrutiny after revelations of massive budget overruns at Parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).<\/p>\n<p>The utility company\u2019s Chief Executive and his team were grilled over unapproved spending amounting to GH\u00a2189.2 million.<\/p>\n<p>Citing details from the 2024 Auditor-General\u2019s Report, Ranking Member Samuel Atta Mills delivered a blistering critique of the company\u2019s financial conduct, accusing ECG management of blatant fiscal indiscipline and disregard for due process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn staff fuel, ECG budgeted GH\u00a22.8 million but spent GH\u00a23.6 million,\u201d the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) MP noted, quizzing sarcastically, \u201cdid they drive around the world?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The trend continued across multiple expenditure lines:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Communication expenses:<\/strong> budgeted at GH\u00a24.2 million, spent GH\u00a27.9 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consultancy:<\/strong> budgeted at GH\u00a240 million, spent \u20b558.6 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Industrial relations:<\/strong> budgeted at \u20b52 million, spent \u20b513 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stakeholder expenses:<\/strong> budgeted at \u20b53.1 million, spent \u20b549 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Publicity:<\/strong> budgeted at \u20b55.7 million, spent \u20b521.8 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Professional fees and subscriptions:<\/strong> budgeted at \u20b5731,000, spent \u20b51.5 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Overseas travel:<\/strong> budgeted at \u20b514 million, spent \u20b529.8 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Call centre operations:<\/strong> budgeted at \u20b523.5 million, spent \u20b529.3 million.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In total, ECG\u2019s approved budget was GH\u00a2144 million, but its actual expenditure ballooned to GH\u00a2333 million, nearly double the allocation.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Atta Mills condemned the spending spree as \u201cfinancial indiscipline\u201d, urging that sanctions under Section 96 of the Public Financial Management Act (Act 921) be applied against the officers responsible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis level of recklessness cannot go unpunished,\u201d he declared. \u201cThose managers who were involved should face the Attorney-General for prosecution \u2014 it\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The PAC session has intensified calls for accountability within ECG, especially as the utility company continues to push for tariff increases amid public frustration over high electricity bills and operational inefficiencies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"100757\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/happy.svg\" alt=\"Happy\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Happy        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class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/surprise.svg\" alt=\"Surprise\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Surprise<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ECG-1-732x424-1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"ECG blows GH\u00a2189m beyond budget without approval - PAC fumes at financial indiscipline\" title=\"ECG blows GH\u00a2189m beyond budget without approval - PAC fumes at financial indiscipline\">The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has come under intense scrutiny after revelations of massive budget overruns at Parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1202,158,1883,10,9,7095,1887],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electricity-company-of-ghana-ecg","category-energy","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-public-accounts-committee-pac","category-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}