- Ghana Must Own Power-Sector Reforms Rather Than Outsource Them To IMF, World Bank — PUWU
Ghana risks fixing the wrong part of its electricity sector if reforms remain too closely shaped by prescriptions from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, according to the Public Utilities Workers Union.
Enoch Paul Hayes, Deputy General Secretary of PUWU, has urged government to take greater ownership of the restructuring process and distinguish between reforms that improve the sector’s finances and those designed primarily to satisfy external programme conditions.
“For example, the generation: we have IPPs and their pricing. Why is that not a concern?” he asked.
The intervention comes as government faces pressure to reform the Electricity Company of Ghana, improve collections, reduce distribution losses and contain the fiscal cost of power-sector obligations.
The IMF has estimated that Ghana’s energy sector could face a financing shortfall of about US$1.10 billion in 2026, underscoring the scale of the problem. PUWU’s argument, however, is that the debate should not stop at ECG but examine the entire electricity value chain, particularly the cost at which power is purchased from Independent Power Producers.
For years, the public debate has centred heavily on ECG’s commercial losses, revenue collection, management structure and operational efficiency. Those problems remain important, but PUWU says focusing predominantly on the distributor risks treating the symptom rather than the structural cost feeding into the system. If generation contracts remain expensive, foreign-currency denominated or tied to capacity payments that do not correspond closely with actual consumption, stronger collections at ECG alone cannot eliminate the underlying pressure.
That distinction matters because weaknesses in power contracts, foreign-exchange exposure, demand forecasting and public-sector payment discipline have repeatedly migrated onto the government’s balance sheet.
The Union therefore wants the reform question widened from simply “How do we fix ECG?” to how Ghana can make the entire electricity market financially sustainable. That would shift attention upstream to generation costs as well as downstream to billing and collections.
Hayes’ criticism is not framed as an outright rejection of the IMF or World Bank. Rather, he argues that Ghana should not confuse access to external financing and technical support with surrendering policymaking authority.
“The IMF is not Father Christmas. They are not coming to say that they are giving us something for free. Whatever they put in, they know what they want to get from it,” he said.
The underlying economic point is that IMF financing comes with policy commitments, while World Bank recommendations are built around particular institutional and financial objectives.
For a country rebuilding fiscal credibility after a severe debt crisis, those institutions can provide capital, expertise and external confidence. PUWU’s concern is that reforms could become programme-compliant without necessarily becoming the most appropriate solution for Ghana’s institutional and commercial realities.
Hayes cited Nigeria and Uganda as examples Ghana should examine before importing reform models wholesale. “What is happening to Nigeria? Whatever they said they were trying to do there has worsened the whole situation.
What happened to Uganda? The examples are there,” he said. The source itself cautions that energy markets differ significantly across countries, but says the broader lesson remains that policy transfer is not automatically the same as policy success.
ECG’s recent financial performance also complicates the reform narrative. According to figures cited from MyJoyOnline, revenue rose to GH¢22.10 billion in 2025, while the company’s after-tax loss narrowed sharply from GH¢8.26 billion in 2024 to GH¢2.52 billion. That does not make ECG financially healthy, but it does suggest that some domestic measures may already be improving revenue mobilisation.
Hayes therefore questioned why pressure for deeper restructuring persists despite acknowledgement of improving revenues. “The World Bank were the same people who said that currently, the ECG, our revenue is coming up, we are doing well.
So what has changed?” he asked. The answer may be that better collections are necessary but insufficient if purchasing costs, technical losses, debt obligations and operating expenses remain too high.
PUWU has also pointed to the Tema Oil Refinery as evidence that domestic institutions can sometimes deliver turnarounds when political will and ownership are strong.
“Just like we stood as Ghanaians and turned around TOR, and we are praising ourselves today for the performance of TOR. We are seeing it today,” Hayes said. He also invoked Kwame Nkrumah’s argument that Africans are capable of managing their own affairs, linking energy reform to a broader question of institutional confidence.
The more practical lesson is that a sustainable electricity market requires strong domestic institutions rather than imported reform templates alone. Ghana needs commercially disciplined utilities, strong regulators, transparent contracts, credible tariff-setting and enforceable payment arrangements across the sector. It also requires policymakers willing to confront politically difficult interests in generation, transmission and distribution.
Organised Labour says it has already submitted proposals to government on how the sector could be restructured. “The advice is not what they are trying to look at, but rather we as workers of Ghana, well pulled by the leadership of TUC and Organised Labour, have given the president and also the minister some critical and important things we need to do and tackle,” Hayes said. His intervention adds labour’s voice to a reform debate that has often been dominated by government, lenders and utility management.
The stakes extend well beyond ECG because the energy sector affects public debt, government borrowing, electricity tariffs, industrial competitiveness and the cost of doing business. Expensive power weakens manufacturers, unreliable supply reduces productivity and continued public support to the sector crowds out spending elsewhere.
A credible reform agenda must therefore examine generation, transmission and distribution together rather than place disproportionate responsibility on one company.
PUWU’s central argument is ultimately about policy ownership. Ghana may still need IMF financing and World Bank expertise, but the long-term design of the electricity market cannot be outsourced to external institutions if the country wants reforms that are durable, politically legitimate and commercially sustainable.
As the document concludes, the question of what Ghana’s power sector should look like in 10 or 20 years may prove more consequential than the next tranche of external financing.
