Public CEOs must be held accountable for mounting ECG debts – Suhuyini

Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communication team, Hamza Suhuyini, has raised concerns over the persistent failure of state institutions to honour their financial obligations, attributing the trend to a culture of over-reliance on government intervention.

Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Wednesday, June 18, Suhuyini criticised chief executives of public agencies for what he described as a lack of accountability and inefficiency, particularly in the management of state-owned enterprises.

“We have reached a stage in this country where chief executives must themselves be held accountable for their actions. Let us see how they are running their respective organisations. But this lazy approach of lumping everything on the government creates that protective layer for many of them to continue to be inefficient, especially when they are appointed to bring meaningful transformation to these sectors.”

Suhuyini observed that many state institutions often ignore debts owed to other government agencies, especially the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), because they expect the central government to intervene when disconnection looms.

“We do not take the debt we owe to other state institutions seriously. State institutions behave this way because they feel the government will intervene anytime there is going to be a disconnection, simply because they are all government service providers. So, the incentive for managers of these state institutions to fulfil their debt obligation to ECG is not there.”

His comments follow ECG’s nationwide disconnection exercise, which saw Ghana Water Limited (GWL) cut off from the national grid on Tuesday, June 17, over a debt exceeding GH¢999.6 million.

According to ECG officials, the exercise aims to recover significant arrears from both public and private entities to improve financial sustainability in the power sector.

Following the GWL disconnection, ECG’s task force also disconnected the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) over an outstanding debt of GH¢3.15 million.

Suhuyini warned that without a shift towards leadership accountability in public institutions, Ghana will continue to face systemic inefficiencies, rising debts, and disruptions in essential services