Fidelity Bank is reported to have dragged Bright Simons, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, to court over his allegation that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the government-controlled electricity utility, is “dishing out” approximately GHC80 million to the financial institution in sweetheart exchange rate deals.
Executive Director for Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Ben Boakye, in post on X revealed this while citing the lawyers of Bright Simons as the source of the information.
Also in a tweet, Mr Simons corroborated the story. He, however, noted that he is yet to be officially served.
“Yes, we await service,” he wrote.
Mr Simons expressed his readiness to face the bank in court to provide evidence for his claims. According to Mr Simons, Ghanaians are suffering from erratic power supply due to such decisions taken by the ECG, which tantamounts to “financial mismanagement.”
“The dumsor that the people experience recurrently stems from financial mismanagement. We will probe anything that allows that to happen. Including ECG FX deals. The courts support sound public policy & public interest. For the people till we die,” he wrote.
Ben Boakye highlighted on March 2, 2024, that ECG was buying the US dollar at a rate of GHC13.95, despite the market rate being lower, resulting in exchange losses of over GHC80 million in one month for buying $43 million.
According to Mr Simons, ECG needs to urgently explain why it is engaging in such exchange rate deals, as it raises questions about the utility’s understanding of the true value of the Ghanaian Cedi compared to the rest of the market.
The exchange rate in October 2023 was less than GHC11.5 to the dollar for commercial banks, but ECG was allegedly buying the dollar at a significantly higher rate, leading to substantial exchange losses.