GH¢91m on Training, GH¢49m on Stakeholders: Inside ECG’s Alleged Outrageous Overspending Scandal

• An Auditor-General's report found ECG's former management disbursed funds across 13 expenditure categories without board authorisation
• Ranking Member Samuel Atta Mills presented figures showing foreign training costs alone ballooned from GH¢31 million to GH¢91 million
• The ECG irregularities form part of a wider GH¢1.24 billion in financial breaches recorded across state entities

An audit of the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited (ECG) covering the 2023 financial year has uncovered close to GH¢170 million in expenditure that bypassed mandatory board approval, according to the Auditor-General's report.

Former ECG management disbursed funds across 13 separate spending categories without the requisite authorisation from the company's board of directors.

In a report by GhanaWeb,Samuel Atta Mills, Ranking Member of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), presented the figures, which showed severe budget overruns in several operational areas.

ECG's most alarming expenditure overruns

The most striking breach involved foreign training, where spending climbed from a budgeted GH¢31 million to an actual outlay of GH¢91 million.

Read also

Here's how much Ghana's first medal winner at 2026 Commonwealth Games will receive

Stakeholder expenses recorded an even sharper divergence proportionally, with actual spending of GH¢49 million against a budget of just GH¢3.1 million.

Publicity costs rose from GH¢5.7 million to GH¢21.8 million, while consultancy expenditure expanded from GH¢40 million to GH¢58.6 million.

Industrial relations spending reached GH¢13 million against a budgeted GH¢2 million.

Additional overruns were recorded across a range of other categories.

Hotel accommodation costs came in at GH¢12.2 million, cleaning at GH¢10.4 million, and communication at GH¢7.9 million.

Honorariums totalled GH¢4.6 million, staff fuel GH¢3.6 million, and professional fees GH¢1.5 million.

The ECG findings do not stand in isolation. The Auditor-General's report recorded more than GH¢1.24 billion in total financial irregularities across state entities, placing the ECG's unapproved expenditure within a wider pattern of fiscal indiscipline in the public sector.

The scale of the overruns, particularly in areas such as stakeholder expenses and foreign training, has raised questions about the controls in place during the period under review and the oversight exercised by ECG's then-leadership.

Read also

Cedi holds steady against major currencies in Bank of Ghana’s latest interbank rates

ECG announces two-day power outage in Accra

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported earlier that the Electricity Company of Ghana scheduled maintenance works for Tuesday, July 28 and Wednesday, July 29, 2026, across the Accra West Region.

ECG said power supply will be cut from 9:00am to 5:00pm on both days as part of efforts to improve service delivery.

Several communities across Accra West are affected, with different areas listed for each of the two days.

Source: YEN.com.gh