{"id":92254,"date":"2025-09-01T12:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92254"},"modified":"2025-09-01T12:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:01:09","slug":"ecg-will-make-or-break-this-country-prof-bokpin-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92254","title":{"rendered":"\u2018ECG will make or break this country\u2019 \u2013 Prof Bokpin warns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 12 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Professor of Finance and Economics at the University of Ghana, Godfred Bokpin, has warned that the country\u2019s economic transformation depends heavily on reforms within the energy sector, particularly the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy FM\u2019s Super Morning Show on Monday, September 1, during a discussion on the annual report of the State Interests and Governance Authority on State-owned enterprises (SOEs), Prof Bokpin said that energy remains the foundation of national development.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing can happen in this country without energy. That is how fundamental it is. We currently don\u2019t have enough power even for an eight-hour economy, and yet we are talking about scaling up to a 24-hour economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He explained that both industrialisation and the competitiveness of the private sector rely on \u201ccheap and reliable energy,\u201d adding that inefficiencies in the public sector only increase costs for businesses.<\/p>\n

Prof Bokpin highlighted the weaknesses at ECG, pointing to poor revenue collection and high losses. \u201cIf you look at our current level, ECG revenue collection is at 85% while the global average is 98%. When it comes to losses, ECG\u2019s losses are as high as 28% while the global benchmark is between 10 and 16%,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He warned that without \u201cdrastic reforms,\u201d the situation will remain bleak. \u201cAcross all the indicators, there isn\u2019t much that gives you hope. We are not seeing those reforms even under this new regime. It\u2019s business as usual, and that comes down to governance and management failures,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

According to him, political interference, procurement abuses, and poor investment decisions have worsened ECG\u2019s inefficiencies. \u201cYou review the ECG report, and you will see over-investment in some areas and under-investment in critical areas, leading to idle inventory while deficits persist. The reason you have this idle investment is because of the procurement economy that benefits powerful people in this country,\u201d Prof Bokpin explained.<\/p>\n

He said that despite repeated reports of mismanagement, little action is taken. \u201cWe see this report day in day out, but nothing gets done. No arrest, no prosecution, no recovery. The next moment we\u2019ll hear is to introduce levies and pass on those inefficiencies to the ultimate taxpayer or the consumer. You can\u2019t develop that way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Prof Bokpin revealed the financial burden ECG\u2019s inefficiencies place on the state. \u201cIf you look at it from now to 2029, the budgetary provision we have to make to cater for ECG alone is actually more than the annual budgetary allocation to the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Trade, Health, and Education,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"'ECGProfessor of Finance and Economics at the University of Ghana, Godfred Bokpin, has warned that the country\u2019s economic transformation depends heavily on reforms within the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).<\/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":[12,2227,1951,1883,117,10,9,7197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-ecg","category-hp-news-1","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-prof-godfred-bokpin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92254","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=92254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}