The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has tabled the previous management of the Electricity Company of Ghana for prosecution by the Attorney General. They have been cited by the Auditor General for overspending their budget in excess of GH¢189,210,656.40.
This is the total excess for 13 budget line items and they were not approved by the Board of ECG.
According to the report, the AG’s “review of the Company’s (ECG) expenditure as against the approved budget disclosed that the actual expenditure for 13 budget line items amounting to GH¢333,960,605.42 exceeded its budgeted amount of GH¢144,749,949.00 by GH¢189,210,656.40.
“It’s extremely worrying. Now before I refer you to the Attorney General for prosecution, let’s go through some of these items,” the Ranking Member, Samuel Atta Mills said.
He added that “CEO, for those managers who were involved, I’m recommending that they need to face the Attorney General for prosecution. It’s just simple and short. You spend all this and you want to come and increase our tariffs.”
Samuel Atta Mills made the recommendation on Tuesday, 28 October, 2025 during the public hearing of the 2024 Auditor General’s report.
PAC is considering the 2024 report on the public accounts of Ghana public boards, corporations and other statutory institutions for the period ending December 31, 2024.
The current management of the ECG, in the company of the Deputy Minister for Energy and Green Transition, appeared before PAC to answer questions on issues cited by the AG.
ISSUES
Paragraphs 147 to 152 of the report explains the management issues identified at the head office of ECG during the year captured by the AG.
The report mentioned that the ECG budgeted over 91 million cedis (GH¢91,357,694.24) for foreign training; over 31.8 million cedis (GH¢31,865,175.00) was approved, but they spent over 59.4 million cedis (GH¢59,492,519.24) in excess.
The second was an actual budget of over 10 million cedis (GH¢10,484,837.58) for cleaning expenses; over 2.8 million cedis (GH¢2,890,217.00) was approved, but that was spent in excess of GH¢7.5 million (GH¢7,594,620.58.)
Additionally, GH¢4.6 million (GH¢4,620,928.64) was budgeted as honorarium expenses, GH¢3.8 million (GH¢3,897,369.00) was approved, but GH¢723,559.64 was spent in excess.
For hotel expenses, 12.2 million (GH¢12,254,656.97) was the actual budget, over 9.3 million (GH¢9,388,963.00) was approved, but it was overspent by over 2.8 million cedis (GH¢2,865,693.97).
An amount of 3.6 million cedis (GH¢3,669,082.51) was budgeted for staff fuel, 2.8 million (GH¢2,816,298.00) approved, but GH¢852,784.51 was the excess expenditure.
The management budgeted more than 7.9 million cedis (GH¢7,929,064.26) for communication expenses, had 4.2 million (GH¢4,277,663.00) approved but ended up overspending 3.6 million (GH¢3,651,401.26).
Further, an actual amount of over 58 million (GH¢58,697,457.70) was for consultancy; ECG had over 40 million cedis (GH¢40,223,513.00) of that approved, but spent over 18 million cedis (GH¢18,473,944.70) more.
They budgeted over 13 million cedis (GH¢13,088,015.89) for industrial relation, over 2 million (GH¢2,020,000.00) was approved but over 11 million (GH¢11,068,015.89) was overspent.
The report indicated further that the ECG budgeted over 49 million cedis (GH¢49,330,726.57) as stakeholders’ expenses, had it slashed to over 3.1 million cedis (GH¢3,171,500.00), but they still spent over 46 million (GH¢46,159,226.57) in excess.
The ECG said they would spend over 21 million (GH¢21,824,904.29) to do publicity, over 5.7 million (GH¢5,776,077.00) was approved, but over 16 million cedis (GH¢16,048,827.29) was in excess.
According to the AG report, ECG budgeted over 1.5 million cedis (GH¢1,532,869.76) for Prof. Fees & Sub, they had GH¢731,317.00 approved, but spent GH¢801,552.76 in excess.
The number 12 item flagged by the AG was overseas travel expenditure. The management had planned to spend over 29.8 million cedis (GH¢29,845,522.01) on that, had over 14 million cedis (GH¢14,096,257.00) approved, but overspent 15.7 million (GH¢15,749,265.01).
The last item was call centre expenses, which ECG had budgeted over 29 million cedis (GH¢29,324,845.00) for them.
They had over 23 million cedis (GH¢23,595,600.00) approved but spent over 5 million cedis (GH¢5,729,245.00) more.
Meanwhile, other issues including unremitted withholding tax of 70.9 million was added to the tall lists that warranted the recommendation of prosecution of the previous ECG management.
