The Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG) has issued a stern warning to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), accusing the regulator of allowing systemic inefficiency and mismanagement at the nation’s utilities to fester like a “cancer” hidden beneath the surface.
In a fiery press release, FABAG described the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL) as institutions that have “become a real cancer in the economic development of Ghana,” with entrenched problems that continue to undermine productivity, public trust, and investor confidence.
The association said that attempts to address these issues have been superficial, with the underlying rot largely ignored, “swept under the carpet” by officials failing to enforce accountability.
Highlighting the gravity of the situation, FABAG pointed to parliamentary findings showing that ECG overspent its approved 2023 budget by GHS 189.2 million without authorization.
Procurement spending, the group noted, skyrocketed from under GHS 1 billion to over GHS 8.3 billion, a nearly 700% increase, without any credible plan to curb inefficiencies. Technical and commercial losses reportedly exceed 30%, ranking the utility among the worst-performing in Africa.
FABAG warned that leaving this “cancer” unchecked could have wide-reaching consequences, including job losses, rising costs for consumers, and operational instability in critical sectors such as food and beverages.
The association emphasized that meaningful reforms must target structural accountability, digitization, and operational transparency, rather than relying on quick fixes like tariff hikes.
The group stressed that ordinary Ghanaians should not bear the cost of utility inefficiency. It called on ECG and GWCL to demonstrate tangible improvements before any further tariff increases are considered, and urged regulators to confront the deep-rooted problems openly and transparently, cautioning against attempts to “sweep the rot under the carpet.”
Ghana, FABAG emphasized, deserves utilities that operate efficiently, not institutions that survive by penalizing the public for their own mismanagement.
