MP throws corruption charges at ECG, Board chair demands hard evidence

Squadron leader Clend Sowu, Chairman of ECG Board Chairman of the Board of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Capt. (Rted) Clend Sowu is demanding evidence following allegations of deep seated corruption at the company. An application to Parliament to waive taxes on equipment procured by the ECG, opened the outfit to criticisms as Members of Parliament accused the company of corrupt practices. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, MP for Manhyia on the floor of the House accused directors of the company of mismanagement and flouting the procurement law with impunity. In a subsequent interview with Joy News, the MP cited the purchase of amorphous chords for transformers in 2007 which he said did not follow procedures set out by the ECG’s own internal rules. Those chords, he alleged, had not been used in the country before. He is outraged that the directors of ECG have again opened tenders for consultants to give directions on how these transformers will be used. Opoku Prempeh also accused the acting ECG director of nepotism for changing the management members even in his acting position and with barely six months for him to go on retirement. He has sworn to expose the rot in the company, and is ready to provide all documents to the two parliamentary committees charged by the Speaker of Parliament, Joyce Bamford Addo to investigate the matter. Even before the committees begin sittings on the allegations, Clend Sowu has charged the accuser to add more flesh to his allegations. “The honourable MP should bring me the facts, figures pertaining to those facts, and the source of those facts.” He is not impressed with empty allegations which he said were most often than not calculated to “pull people down.” Indeed he smells a “pull him down syndrome” in the allegations made by the Manhyia MP, and so challenged him to provide the evidence for him to begin investigations into the matter. He gave the assurance that under his watch, all allegations of corruption would be investigated swiftly, and people found culpable will be dealt with according to the law. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com