ECG unions postpone planned protest against private participation as talks with ministry continue

Pinned summary · as of 15:41

The Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) has put off the nationwide march that Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) staff had planned for Tuesday, 29 September, against bringing private operators into the utility. Checks at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) headquarters in Accra, where Greater Accra workers were to assemble, found nobody gathered. The postponement followed a meeting with the Energy Ministry that began on Monday, and the outcome of those talks will decide whether the protest is revived or dropped.

What we know

• ECG's Senior and Junior Staff Unions called a countrywide demonstration for 29 September to oppose the planned entry of private operators (PSP). Their directive carried the signatures of national divisional chairmen Christopher Apawu and Lucky Larry Agboka.
• According to the unions, the march was to cover ECG's operational regions and close with a petition to President John Dramani Mahama, which regional ministers would receive and pass on.
• The unions set the hours at 8am to 4pm. Accra participants were to meet in front of the TUC building, Kumasi participants at the ECG regional office by the Airport Roundabout, and colleagues elsewhere at their own regional offices, with routes to follow later.
• PUWU was named as convener and lead of the exercise. The unions said it had given the Inspector General of Police advance notice, under Act 491, the Public Order Act of 1994 (Section 1(2)).
• The unions described the march as one step in a wider campaign begun earlier in September. They said workers would keep wearing red armbands until a further phase is announced, and that national and regional committees would coordinate the protests.
• PUWU has postponed the march. Checks at the TUC headquarters found no workers gathered there, and sources close to the TUC said the protest had been put off.
• The postponement came after PUWU sat down with the Energy Ministry from Monday, 28 September, and further talks were expected on Tuesday. Their outcome will determine whether the union goes ahead with the demonstration or calls it off.
• The government was due to meet PUWU on Monday so the union could table its concerns, proposals and alternative ways to improve the finances and running of ECG and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), amid continuing consultation on private participation in both.
• PUWU opposes private involvement and argues that better revenue collection at ECG shows the company can recover with continued state backing. The government says every option must be weighed before any final decision.
• A transaction adviser has been asked to hear from workers and other stakeholders and then report to guide the government's thinking on the proposed reforms.
• Deputy Energy and Green Transition Minister Richard Gyan-Mensah said the union would stay involved throughout the process, and that the state appreciates the workers' worries and remained open to examining the proposals before settling its position.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Reports differ on the date of the follow-up talks: one says Tuesday, 28 September, the other Tuesday, 29 September. Only the second matches the calendar for that Tuesday.
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  The Ghana Report says Mr Gyan-Mensah made his remarks in a Citi FM interview on Friday, 25 September; the other reports do not give the setting.
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  The Vaultz News reported figures it ties to ECG's 2025 accounts: revenue up 16.2% to GH₵22.109 billion, and an after-tax loss that shrank between 2024 and 2025 from GH₵8.256 billion down to GH₵2.521 billion. No other report carries these numbers.
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  The Vaultz News also said Mr Gyan-Mensah put ECG's monthly collections at about GH₵1.8 billion on 25 September, roughly GH₵700 million under an earlier GH₵2.5 billion benchmark, and that the government now works with a requirement near GH₵2.9 billion.
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  The Vaultz News cited International Monetary Fund estimates of a US$1.1 billion energy-sector financing gap for 2026, made up of US$925 million in power and US$178 million in gas, and payables to power producers and fuel suppliers falling from US$2.1 billion to US$1.7 billion. It also cited budget allocations of GH₵15.2 billion for shortfall payments and GH₵4.8 billion for legacy producer debt. None of this appears elsewhere.
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  The Vaultz News reported PUWU's claim that private firms already handle parts of ECG's work such as software, meter installation and new connections, and said the adviser's first findings are due in early October and the final scope of private participation is not settled.

Why it matters for Ghana

ECG supplies power to homes, shops and workshops in Accra, Kumasi and other regions, so any decision on who runs it touches customers as well as the thousands of people it employs. A march of staff could have disrupted traffic and work in the cities where they were to gather. With the protest on hold, the unions' concerns are still unresolved and the Energy Ministry talks will shape what happens next.