The chairman of the Senior Staff Association of the Volta River Authority, Theophilus Tetteh Ahia, has dismissed calls for the privatisation of the company as unnecessary.
This comes against a recent suggestion by Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who urged the government to divest state-owned enterprises, including the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to attract private investment.
Although other stakeholders have clarified that the Asantehene is advocating for greater private sector participation, not complete privatisation, the Senior Staff Association of VRA is not in agreement.
In an interview with Citi News, the chairman of the Senior Staff Association of the Volta River Authority, Theophilus Tetteh Ahia, asserted that previous instances of privatisation for government institutions have not yielded successful results.
“In recent times, there have been calls from people for VRA thermal operations to be privatised. We are in this country; we have seen a lot of state-owned institutions being privatised. I don’t think we can point one out and say, look, yes, we did privatise this one, and it is one of the best that we see. A lot of them have gone under and people have lost their jobs.”
He also maintains that the company is working at full capacity and that even Independent Power Producers generate only one-third of what VRA produces.
“As we speak, all VRA thermal plants are available and running, and contributing to the national grid. All the VRA plants are running and contributing to the national grid, efficiently, 100% owned by Ghanaians, and it’s delivering to the people of this country.
“So, sometimes it beats our imagination to hear that we should sell the state entities that are doing well, and that are supporting us.”
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