CEMSE director disputes claims of 1,350 missing ECG containers at Tema Port

The Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE), Mr. Benjamin Nsiah, has refuted claims that 1,350 containers belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have gone missing at the Tema Port.

According to Mr. Nsiah, while the containers can be considered “missing” quantitatively, they are not missing qualitatively because they can be traced.



He questioned the process by which the containers allegedly went into demurrage and were subsequently transferred to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) bonded warehouse, where they were auctioned.

He emphasized that the individuals who authorized the auction and those who purchased the containers can be identified.

Mr. Nsiah further argued that the specialized nature of the materials in the containers makes them difficult to sell on the open market.

He suggested that some ECG workers might have bought the items from the auction buyers and resold them to ECG due to operational needs.




Although he admitted that he had not seen the report from the committee chaired by Prof. Innocent Senyo Acquah, Mr. Nsiah maintained that it is unlikely that the containers are truly missing, as the items should have been accounted for by the GRA.

He reiterated that the auction process should have records detailing who authorized the sale and who purchased the goods.

Speaking in an interview with Otafrigya Kwesi Apea-Apreku on the GHANA YENSOM morning show on Accra 100.5 FM on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, Mr. Nsiah expressed concerns over liability issues in ECG, suggesting that some ECG workers might have repurchased the items.

He also highlighted ECG’s financial challenges, revealing that the company recorded a liability of 52% between 2021 and 2022, which reduced to 35% between 2022 and 2023.




To address ECG’s financial burden, he called for debt securitization, proposing that ECG’s debts be converted into a long-term bond spanning 15 to 20 years, with interest proceeds used to gradually settle the outstanding liabilities.

Earlier, the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, has raised serious concerns over the disappearance of more than 1,350 Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) containers from the Tema Harbour.

According to the Minister, a committee set up to investigate the issue has uncovered alarming procurement breaches spanning several years.




In a Facebook post on Tuesday, 25 March, Mr Jinapor disclosed that he had received a 103-page report detailing the extent of the irregularities.

“The findings from the committee report are very disturbing, with over 1,350 of the containers missing from the Tema port aside from serious procurement breaches in the past few years,” he stated.

The Minister further assured the public that law enforcement agencies would be tasked with bringing those responsible to justice.

“The law enforcement agencies will surely be tasked to hold culprits liable,” he emphasised, signalling the government’s commitment to ensuring accountability.

The disappearance of the ECG containers and the procurement violations raise significant concerns about transparency and oversight in the energy sector

Source: Classfmonline.com