Friday, 28th March, 2025
Hon George Kwame Aboagye
Asene/Manso/Akroso
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Speaker, I rise to make a Statement on unaccounted Electricy Company of Ghana Limited (ECG) containers at the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).
Mr Speaker, GPHA is charged with managing, maintaining, operating, and controlling all ports in Ghana, including providing efficient port facilities and services, handling large portions of external trade and serving as a regional transit hub.
Mr Speaker the process of clearing goods from Ghana's ports is a multi-step procedure that involves proper documentation, payment of duties and fees, customs inspections and finally, the physical release of the goods. While the process is designed to ensure that all goods entering the country comply with the necessary regulations, it can be complex and time-consuming.
The key agencies responsible for clearing of goods from the ports include, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). They are responsible for customs clearance, assessment of duties and taxes and ensuring compliance with Ghana's import laws. The GPHA oversees the operations at the ports, including managing the handling of goods, port charges and facilitating the physical release of goods.
Mr Speaker, shipping lines and freight forwarders: Shipping companies and freight forwarders are responsible for transporting goods and issuing delivery orders. The National Security and customs officers also ensure the security of the ports and inspect shipments for compliance with regulations.
Mr Speaker, an investigative report chaired by Prof Innocent Senyo Acquah discloses that, 1,328 containers out of 2,491 uncleared containers belonging to the ECG at the GPHA cannot be accounted for.
Mr Speaker, this is a major regulatory and security concern and an indication that all the security department and government agencies charged with efficient running and accountability at the port are not working effectively. Resolving the issue of missing ECG containers at the ports requires a combination of immediate corrective actions and long-term strategies, to ensure accountability, security, and effective management.
Mr Speaker, there should be strict penalties for theft or tampering. The introduction of stricter penalties for businesses or individuals caught tampering with, stealing or mishandling of containers in any way, would act as a deterrent and encourage responsible behavior.
Mr Speaker, we should conduct thorough investigations, launch a comprehensive investigation into the disappearance of the ECG containers. This should involve GPHA, ECG officials and law enforcement agencies to track down the missing containers and determine whether they were stolen, tampered with, or misplaced.
Mr Speaker, we should hold responsible parties accountable. If the investigation uncovers negligence, fraud, or criminal activity, responsible parties whether individuals within ECG, GPHA officials, or businesses-should be held accountable. We should strengthen coordination with the police. The GPHA should collaborate closely with law enforcement to address the criminal aspect of the mission containers.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, the issue of missing ECG containers at the ports is a serious one that requires both immediate actions and long-term structural changes to prevent future occurrences. A combination of better security, stronger internal controls, collaboration with law enforcement and greater transparency can go a long way in addressing the root causes of the problem by adopting a comprehensive approach that involves multiple stakeholders.
Mr Speaker, we are urging you to institute an Ad hoc Committee to investigate the missing containers and make recommendations to ensure it does not happen again.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
Hon Felix Kwakye Ofosu
Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
Mr Speaker, I must express surprise at the Statement just read by my Colleague on the other Side. Seeing that this is primarily a development arising from, if you like, poor management of the ECG under the tenure of the government that they formed, which left power barely three months ago. Indeed, there has been a sustained effort to twist the narrative and mislead the people of Ghana on the events surrounding the mysterious disappearance of up to 1,300 separate containers. Indeed, I am happy that the Minister for Energy and Green Transition is here and would be in a position to shed further light on the matter.
But, the facts of this case, as they are, are straightforward. Indeed, those who supervised this uncanny disappearance of 1,300 containers, containing wares belonging to the ECG, should indeed be the last group of people purporting to foist some wrongdoing on the Government that wants to clean up and sanitise the murky operations of—
Mr Speaker, I am surprised again at the reaction of our Colleagues on the other Side. There are notorious facts on this case that are already public information. The incident under reference occurred during the reign of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) when they were in Government. Since this matter became public, there has been an effort to distort the information and make it appear like a novel development, that it is something that has just happened. I am the Minister for Government Communications; I am in regular touch with the Minister for Energy and Green Transition. Therefore, I am fully aware of the facts.
Mr Speaker, I have the report before me and we will tender it in as evidence. They are inviting us to reinvent the wheel. They want us to do what we have done already in a bid to obfuscate the real issues which is that, Mr Speaker, there is flagrant abuse —
Mr Speaker, the reaction of our Colleagues suggests that they actually do not want the matter looked into. They do not want the facts to be made public, that is why they are obstructing me. But the point is that the maker of the Statement has referenced the existence of an investigation which has led to a report. On what basis therefore has he come to demand another investigation into the investigation? You see, this is a House that is filled with so much activity that we should not be making room for needless replication of things that have already been done.
The Minister for Energy and Green Transition has stated publicly that action will be taken on the outcome of the investigations. So, I am surprised that my Colleagues on the other Side do not want these actions to be taken.
Hon Kingsley Nyarko
Kwadaso
Mr Speaker, thank you for indulging me. Let me pat the back of the maker of the Statement.
Mr Speaker, the fact that one is a Minister does not mean that he or she is clothed with all facts. Mr Speaker, Ministers can get it wrong. If one is a Minister, they are not God. They are just a mortal and fallible soul.
Mr Speaker, the Minister for Energy and Green Transition has been giving different accounts regarding the missing containers at the harbour. In one breath, he said 3,000, and in another breath, he said 2,500. Later, he is saying 1,300. That is what the maker of the Statement is saying.
Mr Speaker, this statement or comment of mine was not intended and it does not demean any Minister. Mr Speaker, we are all human beings; we make mistakes. So, if my very good Friend, Minister for Roads and Highways, wants to tell us that he is God, I will give it to him. If he feels that he is God, he should take it. But aside that, we are all mortal and fallible souls. As human beings, we can make mistakes. Hon Member, with respect to you, I did not, in that comment, demean anybody. I did not, with respect.
Mr Speaker, the maker of the Statement made a profound conclusion and if you indulge me—This is what he said: “We are urging Mr Speaker to institute an ad hoc Committee to investigate the missing containers and make recommendations to ensure it does not happen again”. This is a beautiful conclusion.
Until investigations are properly done and conducted, we cannot conclude by saying that because this incident happened during the Administration of the New Patriotic Party, then the Government is complicit. We cannot pinpoint the political colour of those who work at the Tema Harbour. There are some who work there who belong to any political party. Please, let us be very careful how we impugn improper motives in the actions of people.
Mr Speaker, the containers did not get missing at the Ministry of Energy— At the ports. Mr Speaker, I would have commented on this Statement if my very good Friend, Hon John Jinapor, had been consistent in his narratives. At the dispatch box, I remember he said about 3,000; then later he said 2,500, and now we are hearing 1,300. Is it not curious? Can we not, with these conflicting updates, suggest that proper interrogation be done? What is wrong with that? My very good Friend, Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, with all due respect to your office, let us tread cautiously.
This Government has been honoured by Ghanaians to govern, so enough of their complaints and enough of their accusations. They must work. If they cannot do the work, we can do the work for them. Every day they are complaining. Every day—Tomorrow, this. What is this?
Mr Felix Ofosu, if you cannot do the job, quit. If you cannot do the job, quit. The NPP can do the job. If John Mahama cannot do the job as the President, he should tell Ghanaians, and he should quit. Enough of their complaints. Y’abrԑ.
Mr Speaker, thank you for indulging me.
Hon Philip Fiifi Buckman
Kwesimintsim
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, may I add my voice to whatever has already been said. This is a matter of national concern. This is a matter that every serious Ghanaian should rise and call for investigation and punishment.
Mr Speaker, it is high time we ignited the spirit of patriotism and nationalism. It is high time people did not cause heinous crimes against the state and ran under political parties or political lineages. This is the time all of us, and I believe that it is in that spirit that my Brother rose and made the Statement that, whoever is found to be culpable, the nation would have to come together and deal with that person.
Mr Speaker, many people will commit crimes, and the only thing that they would use to save themselves is to go under a political umbrella to say that because the person is New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), a Convention People’s Party (CPP), or whatever—This is a crime against the state. The port has authorities. The port has security. We had National Security operatives over there when those items got missing. Mr Speaker, we would have to speak with one voice and say that we have to go wherever we have to go to get those people and punish.
Yesterday, Mr Speaker, when the budget of the Ministry of the Interior was adopted, I heard that we are lamenting about prisoners when they are in prison, and the amount that is used to feed them. We have many arable lands over there. Some of these people, when we get them, we have to put them in those lands to feed the state. How can someone decide that he or she would surreptitiously take something that belongs to the state and enjoy it on his or her own at the expense of the state? Mr Speaker, we have to get serious.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity.
Hon Dominic Bingab Aduna Nitiwul
Bimbilla
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity. I want to thank my Colleague for making this Statement.
Mr Speaker, this is a major security breach, and we should not joke with it. This is a major scandal. Mr Speaker, how much did we go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to borrow? It was US$3 billion. Look at the quantum of money that is involved in this matter.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member is calling for this House to form a bipartisan committee to investigate this. I am surprised that the Minister of State in charge of Government Communications says that this is an old thing. Three months into Government, he has made not less than 20 statements, and he did not believe that he needed to inform Ghanaians that this number of containers were missing? Government should take this as a priority.
Mr Speaker, if about a thousand containers can be taken illegally from our ports — we are not talking of needles, we are not talking of spoons. These are 40-footer containers or more and over a thousand of them are missing. This is a major scandal. We should not joke with it. It does not matter under which government it happened, it is a major scandal. It does not matter who superintended it, the people who are involved should be fished out and punished. They are saboteurs of Ghana. It does not matter under which government. We are not talking about government; the Member did not mention the NDC government or the NPP government. Do not let it be a banter between NPP and NDC. We would not allow this to happen. Anytime there is a major scandal and people are being punished, then it tends to be NDC versus NPP, and the real culprits get away.
Mr Speaker, we cannot allow this to happen; that over a thousand containers to be missing. The Minister should make a Statement to Parliament and inform the people of Ghana exactly what the facts of the case are. What is it? What are the real facts? I did not see, I did not hear, I did not watch the Minister make a statement, but they are accusing the Minister that he was at the port and said that he has seen 3,000 containers. The Hon Minister needs to clarify those facts. He needs to make that statement. It is important for the Minister to tell us the number of containers which were there when he took over. In the handing over notes, how many containers were left for them? What did the ECG say? These are very important facts.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister should not joke with this, because just this week, we all know that National Security arrested people carrying drugs worth more than US$350 million on our streets; on the way to Takoradi.
Mr Speaker, we cannot allow these things to be happening. We would not sweep these things under the carpet. We should not allow partisan politics to divide this House when the right thing is supposed to be done. All the Members of this Side and their Side are saying is that we should get to the bottom of this matter. Let us find out exactly what the facts are, let us find out who is responsible and let us punish the people.
Mr Speaker, ordinary Ghanaians are working hard to make ends meet. People are struggling to make ends meet. Women are working 24 hours to get a life, and people are just stealing. The Minister for Finance was being tried for US$2 million. Today, we are talking about US$700 million, and somebody will get away with it. He could have been jailed. He would not have been the Minister for Finance. Today, should somebody get away with US$700 million or should a group of people get away with that money because we want to accuse each other? No! We cannot allow that.
So, I want the Majority Leader and the Members on his Side to understand that the maker of the Statement is coming with clear conscience. All we want to find out is the facts of the case. What happened? How many containers were involved? Who are the people involved? Containers do not have legs. They do not have wings to fly. Nobody can carry a 40-footer container. How is it possible that all the security people there — it does not matter the time, and then these containers were moved. First day, 10 containers; the next day, 20 containers; another day, 50 containers; all adding up to over 1,000 containers. How is that possible?
So, I say that we must find out exactly—It tells us something. It could be that something bigger is happening at the port. If containers can get missing, then you can imagine other things that are there; explosives, drugs, different things, and worse of all, arms. I support the maker of the Statement to say that let us investigate in details. There is no report that we want in secret. We do not want any report that was conducted in secret. We want a public report. We do not know the people who did it. We do not know when it was started.
We do not know when it was commissioned. We do not know who commissioned it and how this report — we want a public report. This is one of the biggest scandals. It is worse than the cocaine scandal. Let us get a public report and carry the people of Ghana along. If they go and produce a report that they alone know what happened, they never informed Ghanaians when it was started, what time they investigated, how they did it, who the members are, the people of Ghana will reject it. They would say that it is a cooked report. Most particularly, when the Minister is accusing us that it was during the era of the NPP. It may not be true. I do not have the full facts, so I cannot say whether it is true or not, but it cannot be true.
Mr Speaker, I said that I support that we should have a thorough investigation, a bipartisan investigation, and find out the truth of the matter. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Abdul Aziz Fatahiya
Savelugu
Mr Speaker, first let me commend the maker of the Statement for bringing this matter to the Floor. I have heard views expressed on this matter, and I must say that today is another day of sadness for the politics of the country because a system has succeeded in setting us up to set ourselves apart.
Mr Speaker, let me give some few facts for the Hansard of this House. I had the privilege of chairing the Ghana Water Company. Every single reform I initiated ended up in the media caused by the very people who perpetrated it and in the end it turned political. So, nothing gets done.
Mr Speaker, with ECG, I had the privilege of chairing the Board in July. Because I am a businessman, the first question I asked myself was how can ECG award a contract and when the contract is awarded? All the person does is deliver at the port, present bill of lading and request for payments. I said, with the greatest respect, I do not want to use a word, this is Parliament. I was shattered. I said, how? ECG would have to pay so, I realised that ECG was paying a lot of bills when they have not even had access to the goods. I asked director of procurement a question. I asked why this happened and he said, “oh, Chairman, this has been the practice since”, and they will bring documents.
I listened to Hon Member for Kwesimintsim and I am adopting the submissions as though they were mine. The time has come—This politics of somebody saying they are in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or National Democratic Congress (NDC)—It is a system problem and I will on any day, support this Minister to embark on reforms. How can the bureaucracy at our ports say that containers that have arrived are missing?
Mr Speaker, it is true that when these containers come, there is some connivance with some customs officials. They sell these containers, these cables that
ECG needs. After the supplier has been paid, they sell the containers and then people resell back to ECG. Are we pretending we do not know? Instead of us to pay attention and kill the rot, then we come here and say it happened under the NPP or it happened under the NDC. No! Hon Minister, I know what you can do.
If we can give the Hon Minister support to do it, he must adopt a nonpartisan posture and tackle the rot. But if we all want to approach the issue on party basis, it will remain. NDC will spend four years, 16 years, or 20 years, and the same thing will be there. They will come into opposition and the same thing will arise again. Then the perpetrators will be there in the system.
Mr Speaker, today, Ghanaian businesses cannot sleep because there is a new Government, whereas foreign businesses are surviving because their ambassadors will be protecting their businesses. So, Ghanaian businesses who did business in NPP time are at risk, whereas foreign companies are surviving because we are quick to say this business is a pro-NPP, so it should die. What are we doing to ourselves?
Mr Speaker, I know the Minister will come and say, ECG has a huge bill, that there is debt. Who caused it? We did. As a political class, when there are issues, we do not identify the issue and say, this one is a national issue, let us kill it. We want to play partisan football with it. It comes back to haunt us. How many people pay bills in Ghana with all the power ECG produces.
Mr Speaker, let me hazard a guess. I can say, not on authority, that less than 20 per cent of consumers pay. A lot of factories consume electricity, and they do not pay. The prepaid is adjusted all over. At the end of the day, it becomes the debt of the state. These are things that if the Minister comes and says, “look, I am embarking on serious reforms”, I will go all out to back him because if the nation fails, it affects all of us. And for the issue of NPP and NDC, we should not be too comfortable with this democracy. Because of social media today, the youth are so impatient. If we continue to play this game, they will be watching. We may be surprised. Let us be careful as a political class. The issue at stake is scandalous, it is serious and is not an NPP, or NDC matter.
Sometimes, we see some of the appointees of the previous Government even saying that they are professionals, and that they were not members of the NPP. Now they come here and then they are dining with the Majority and the Majority Side is also happy.
When the Majority Side loses power, they turn around. They would be hitting our heads and we will be here shouting. No! Government invests so much in the public system, the public service structure, the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Every now and then, we have bureaucracies being established by law and the state will give money. Look at this Gold Board initiative. For all we know, Government means well but trust me, if in the enactment, we do not put in place the support systems, people will take the money and say they helped NDC come to power. They would not even buy the gold and they cannot even be prosecuted.
I invested in Winneba. I bought taxis for my people. The person would be working but would not be paying. I cannot prosecute and I would have to pay. What is going on in the country? We set up initiatives where we help our people and we give them the loans. President Kufuor’s Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), people did not pay. Rawlings’ intervention programme, poverty alleviation, they did not pay. When Prof Atta-Mills lost, and Kufuor came, he made an attempt to prosecute the people who did not pay the loans but they said they did not pay because they were members of the NDC. When Kufuor also came, they took the loan, and they did not pay. When Prof Atta-Mills was prosecuting, they said they did not pay because they were members of the NPP. This has been going on and we are still calling it national debt.
All these social interventions that are going down the drain have become for consumption and not investment. As a political class, let us wake up. Let us get more serious and tackle the issues. This US$700 million is no cheap money. Go to ECG. Those companies are chasing ECG now because the Minister is enforcing the cash waterfall.
They say they get only GH₵40 million and the GH₵40 million is not even enough to pay salary. We should hold those officers and directors at ECG to account and stop this political football we are playing. The Hon Member who brought the Statement up, with the greatest respect to him, I do not think an answer will be in a Parliamentary inquiry. Hon Minister, I do not think an answer to the problem is a political inquiry. Let us hold the bull by the horn, and I, Kwamena, will support the Minister because I have been there. In fact, I have seen a lot of the rot in our public service system. I have seen a lot of the rot in the SOEs, but they take advantage of us as politicians. They mess up and they know that the politicians will make noise.
Then they are still chopping and milking the state. We all know. The managing director of ECG, the director of procurement, must be seen to be telling us why, as a director of procurement, he will issue a contract, which entails delivering goods at the port, taking bill of lading, and asking for payments, even without having access to it. And then a Minister has to take the blame. A Minister must not take a blame on this matter. It should not be a partisan matter. It is a system failure which we have the capacity and the authority to deal with.
I shall rest my case, Mr Speaker. If we would be serious, this is the day. Minister, I crave your indulgence to do what is right for legacy purposes and for your image.
Hon John Abdulai Jinapor
Yapei Kusawgu
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, as Minister for Energy and Green Transition, currently my vision is simple. I want all the 1,346 containers accounted for. Whatever it takes, I will bring those containers to where they ought to be.
Mr Speaker, let me set the record straight, and if my good Friend, Professor, will listen to me, there has not been any inconsistency. At the Transition Committee, Hon Ayariga was there, they gave us a figure of 3,000.
Then they told us it had incurred a demurrage of GH₵1.5 billion. I was sworn into office on the 17th January, 2025 and on 24th January, 2025, I visited the harbour. At the harbour, I was told the containers were 2,500. That is what aroused my suspicion. I did not say that the containers are 2,500 at the harbour; I could not have counted 2,500 containers instantaneously. So, from 24th January, 2025 I went to greet the President on 27th January, 2025 and by 31st January, 2025 I had established this committee.
There was media coverage and we took Prof Senyo, who is a chartered procurement expert. The report was submitted just this week. It was during the presentation of the report that the committee told me that contrary to the figures they were giving me, over 1,300 containers could not be accounted for. These are the facts, and nothing but the facts. So, those who are on social media, trying to play the political game, let me assure them that it will not deter me. I just came from Kpone.
We have gone to four warehouses; two of them are factories. What they have been doing over the years is that they buy these containers with brand new aluminium cables and then melt them into aluminium rods and export them. Today, I encourage everybody to watch the television sets. One will see the cables, brand new cables, being put into the furnace, being melted, and converted to rods.
Mr Speaker, yesterday, when President Mahama called me, his message was simple. He said, John Jinapor, you have my full backing; go the full throttle and that is exactly what we are doing. We have already arrested some Chinese nationals and we are on the trail of some Indian nationals who have bolted. But we know that this is a House of record, and so I am being very cautious. I have received a lot of briefings and I am getting to know those who are behind them. This has been going on for years. I will stop that and it will stop right now.
Mr Speaker, it is not just going to stop. We shall retrieve the containers of the materials. We shall prosecute the perpetrators and sell the rods to recover the cost. People are complaining that at the distribution level, the power system is not stable. It is because one buys the materials and does not use them. They end up somewhere other than their intended purpose.
Mr Speaker, I am not just looking at tackling the problem; I am also looking at the source of the problem. That, for me, is very important.
Mr Speaker, and with your permission, I will tender in the report of the committee, so that everybody can read it. If we go to the tables, for instance, in the year 2023, the approved plan procurement was GH₵935 million. That is less than GH₵1 billion. By the end of the year, they had procured GH₵8.3 billion, which is GH₵7.3 billion more than their budget could accommodate. And so, we had so many containers arriving at the port, but they are not able to clear and that gives way for these things.
Mr Speaker, in 2024, their budget was GH₵1.3 billion for procurement; they ended up procuring GH₵8.2 billion. That is the source of the problem. And I hold the view that whoever was responsible and the Managing Director (MD) approving—
Mr Speaker, it is even worrying. If we look at the procurement, the MD has a threshold of US$1 million. In a day, they sign 20 contracts. All of them, GH₵900 each. These are the key issues that I am focusing on. So, let me tell those politicians, and excuse my language, Mr Speaker, I believe that some of the criminals are part of it. They are on social media trying to muddy the waters, their days are numbered. The containers have serial numbers. They are received at the port and are entered into a document. There is a manifest for it. Before they move on, somebody has to sign for it. It has to go through an agent. It has to get to a destination, and I will trace all of that. We will trace them. That is the way to go. Already, I have written to the Bureau of National Investigation to commence investigation.
Mr Speaker, so, without arguing too much and with your permission, I will tender in the report.
Mr Speaker, in winding up, we are giving some immediate directives. The procurement unit was merged with the estate department. The head of procurement was jettisoned and the head of the estate department was then made to take care of the procurement. So, I have written to ECG immediately, that that should be decoupled and a qualified procurement expert should man the procurement unit. Secondly, we have reduced their budget from GH₵500 million to GH₵250 million because we must pay for the power producers. Today, their bill is over GH₵80 billion in the energy sector.
Mr Speaker, if we do not do something, this sector will collapse. And as Minister, I am determined to do my bit, no matter how difficult it is. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Hon Ayariga Mahama
Bawku Central
Mr Speaker, I think, from the Statement, comments and briefing that we have received from the Minister, the facts are quite straight forward. The ECG reported that they had imported 2,462 containers, and that they had received those containers at Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA). An additional 34 containers had not arrived yet.
M
r Speaker, however, when the Minister sent a team to carry out some investigation, they reported that only 1,134 containers were there. Indeed, some of the 1,134 containers had been opened and the contents could not be accounted for. Those are the facts.
Mr Speaker, from what the Minister has indicated, he has reported to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), and they are busy going around the country trying to track the containers. Some few containers have been located and the contents cannot be accounted for, except that he has indicated that they have taken them out; aluminum components of the items smelted and converted into aluminum products to be exported out of the country.
Mr Speaker, it is also worthy of note that he says the problem arises from a practice of over-procuring. In 2023, when the ECG budgeted for GH₵935.4 million worth of items to procure, they ended up procuring GH₵8.3 billion worth of materials. In 2024, when they budgeted for GH₵1.3 billion worth of materials, they procured GH₵8.2 billion worth of materials. So, what happens is that the materials arrive at the port, and they do not have the funds to clear the materials. Then the materials start disappearing at the ports. It means that there has been a cartel, all along, that has specialised in ensuring that the containers are stolen out of the port and then vandalised.
Mr Speaker, this is a matter that must be investigated, but then, he also highlighted the root causes of the problem, the over-procurement. It is significant that the Committee has reported that clearly, the ECG has not been complying with the procurement laws. There is an argument that ECG is not affected by the Public Procurement Act, and that because they are a company, they can procure on their own and do not need approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), and that the only time when they need approval from the PPA is when they use resources from the state to procure.
That is the only time that they need approval from the PPA. Yet, on several occasions, they receive funding from the state and still did not use the PPA approved processes for procurement. So, clearly, this is an entity that has, over the years, been on its own, procuring whatever it wanted without going through the procurement rules, and that is what has accounted for the situation that we find ourselves in.
Mr Speaker, the maker of the Statement has called for punitive actions to be taken, and I support the maker of the Statement that punitive action must be taken. If we look at the amounts involved, that is GH₵8.2 billion and GH₵8.3 billion, if we total the two years, 2023 and 2024, we are looking at close to GH₵17 billion worth of items imported without resort to the procurement laws. Who were the leaders at the ECG at that time? Who was the chairman of the Board of ECG? Who was the CEO of ECG? How is it that GH₵17 billion worth of items could be procured without compliance with the procurement provisions of the Public Procurement Act?
Mr Speaker, this is a very serious matter. That is why I was surprised that a Statement coming from this Side will ask us to investigate and punish those who are involved in such actions. This country must change, and I am happy that the Minister has promised to go to the root of the matter, and he has the full support of this House to hold all those who are involved in this exercise accountable: from the leadership of ECG to the leadership of the port. Those who specifically stole the containers out of the port must also be held accountable, and the companies that, over the years, have been exporting aluminum products need to be investigated. Where have they been sourcing the raw material of their aluminum products?
Mr Speaker, we, as Members of Parliament, campaigned on a promise of ensuring that we extend rural electrification to our communities. Some of us have had to use our personal moneys to buy rolls of coils and pay contractors to have electricity extended to communities before we were voted for, not knowing that there was a cartel using over GH₵17 billion belonging to the state to buy these materials for rural electrification and the materials were never getting to our communities.
We were held accountable as candidates, and we had to use our personal resources to extend electricity. I can boast—And anybody can go to my constituency, and the people will tell them that close to 70 per cent of the rural electrification in my Constituency was financed from my personal pocket.
That is why I am so angry and passionate. Anyone can call the regional coordinator of Rural Electrification in Upper East, and he will tell them that no one has used their personal resources to finance rural electrification than I have done. When we go, we are told that there was procurement, and that we should wait, and we will get the material.
Later, we are told that the materials are unavailable, but we trace to it to the Ministry, and the Ministry would say that it has procured the materials, but where are the materials? The materials do not get to the communities, not knowing that people were pilfering the materials, selling them here in Accra, melting the cables, and re-exporting it.
Mr Speaker, they must be held accountable. Everybody must be held accountable, and we will ensure that. I am happy that my Colleague, the Minority Leader, who sat there and understands the intricacies of what is happening, has pledged to this House to support the effort. We will work with him. Everybody will be held accountable.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
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