The minority caucus on the Energy Committee of Parliament has called on the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, to appear before MPs and apprise the House on circumstances leading to the recovery of some 2,637 shipping containers belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) at the Port of Tema. Speaking to journalists in Parliament on Tuesday, the deputy ranking member of the committee, Collins Adomako-Mensah ‘vehemently’ disagreed with media publications on the use of the word “retrieved” in the headline to suggest that the containers were cleared from the port without knowledge of ECG and now they have been found. According to Mr. Adomako-Mensah (MP, Afigya Kwabre North) the containers were not missing rather proper audits were not carried on them.
“Indeed, they were not missing. We are being told that the containers have suddenly been found at the same Tema Port as has been reported by the Daily Graphic.”, he said
He was however surprised at the utterances of the sector minister which indicated that a theft might have occurred that led to raids on private establishments.
“If you recall, we were told that 2,491 containers, uncleared ones, this was information from ECG to the minister, the new minister. The minister subsequently set up a committee to investigate these uncleared containers It turned out, according to the committee, that out of the 2,491 containers that were uncleared, close to about 1,134 were missing. And these were the words of the minister. Subsequently, we saw videos of the minister in the company of some national security operatives raiding some companies and we were told that these were part of the missing containers. Today, we’ve been told that a total of 2,637, twice the number that were reportedly missing, have suddenly been found at the same Tema Port.”
Later on the floor of the House, Mr. Adomako-Mensah brought to attention the matter of the ECG containers during the deliberation and adoption of the Business for the rest of the week where he indicated steps to summon the sector minister to apprise Parliament with the full details of the matter. The saga of the missing containers has been a topical issue on the airwaves since March this year after the minister reported them missing. The contents includes electrical cables, prepaid meters and other essential items imported by ECG. An investigative team setup by Mr. Jinapor found that ECG discontinued the process of clearing the containers before 2022 due to lack but the company had awarded contracts to two private firms to clear the containers one of which was pre-financed by ECG. One of the contracted companies did not meet the licencing requirements to execute the contract raising concerns over procurement violations; director of procurement had no experience in procurement and did not belong to any professional body.