Ghana’s Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has announced that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will consolidate its revenue collection into a single account.
Speaking on the sidelines of the recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C., Dr. Amin Adam stated, “We have also established a single collection account. Therefore, ECG will not collect revenue through the many accounts that they operates. Everything will come through a single collection account. So it is easier for all of us to track.”
The move comes after revelations that ECG has been operating 61 different bank accounts, far more than initially anticipated.
Member of Parliament Edward Bawa had earlier claimed ECG was running 37 accounts, prompting calls for the dissolution of ECG’s board and the dismissal of its Managing Director for violating cash management rules.
“IMF had indicated that you have a single account such that anytime you take the revenues, we can follow the account where the money is put,” Bawa stated, adding that ECG refused to make its accounts available for auditing by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission has also fined ECG GH¢36,000 for failing to submit details on all its bank and investment accounts.
Dr. Amin Adam expressed optimism that the single account will enhance accountability and transparency in ECG’s revenue management. He revealed that audits of the cash waterfall mechanism are underway, with one already published.
“We are going to continue to do that so that we can bring transparency and accountability so that all revenues meant for the cash waterfall goes to the cash waterfall for the purpose for which it was created,” the Finance Minister stated.
