The Great ECG Container Heist: A Comedy of Errors

**The Great ECG Container Heist**

Ladies and gentlemen, gather around! I present to you the thrilling saga of The Great ECG Container Heist.

If you thought political scandals were just about shady deals, think again. This is a blockbuster: How to Lose 1,328 Containers in 10 Days.

**Scene 1: The Mystery of the Missing Containers**

It all started when the outgoing NPP government left a note. They said, "There are 3,000 ECG containers at the port." But when the Minister of Energy checked, officials said there were only 2,500.

Alarm bells rang. A committee was formed to investigate. They asked GPHA how many containers were really there. GPHA casually replied, "Oh, just 1,132." Meanwhile, ECG insisted they had 2,462!

The committee counted the containers themselves. Surprise! GPHA was right! This meant 1,328 containers had vanished.

**Scene 2: The Vanishing Money Trick**

You’d think ECG would be good at clearing containers. After all, they received 5 million cedis weekly for this purpose. But in 2022, MD Dubik Mahama decided to stop paying into that account.

Chaos ensued as containers piled up quickly. The Transport Department warned that demurrage costs were rising fast. Yet ECG Management shrugged and said they had no money to clear them.

Meanwhile, they kept importing new containers and paying suppliers almost everything upfront. The demurrage bill reached an astonishing 1.5 million cedis!

**Scene 3: The Genius Clearance Plan**

Out of nowhere, MD Dubik Mahama introduced two companies to help clear the containers. MINT LOGISTICS and DAWARDS BOND LIMITED entered the scene.

MINT LOGISTICS was assigned to clear 1,110 containers at a cost of 160,000 cedis each—totaling over 177 million cedis! DAWARDS BOND LIMITED got another deal for clearing 200 containers at a lower rate.

Who knew clearing containers could be so profitable?

**Scene 4: The Magical Recycling Business**

What happened next? Simple!

ECG continued importing more containers without clearing them.
They called in a mysterious clearance company at high prices.
The contents of those containers mysteriously disappeared.
ECG then went shopping for replacements.

Rumor has it that new cables are being sold abroad while ECG keeps importing more!

**Scene 5: The Procurement Department Gets a Facelift (Literally)**

This scandal wasn’t just about missing containers; it involved procurement too! In 2022, planned procurement was set at 1.7 billion cedis but only spent 460 million cedis—a difference of over a billion cedis.

By 2023, planned procurement dropped to935 million cedis but actual spending soared to over8 billion cedis—a deviation of nearly7 billion cedis!

In response to this chaos, ECG merged its Procurement and Estate Departments and replaced their head with someone who knew nothing about buying cables!

**Scene 6: The Cast of Characters**

As we wrap up this tragicomedy:

- Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) was the Energy Minister.
- Dubik Mahama is the MD of ECG.
- Kelly Gadzekpo served as Board Chairman before changes occurred.
- Afenyo Markin became the new Board Chair during this mess.

And let’s not forget countless ECG workers still searching for those missing containers!

**Epilogue: The Moral of the Story**

What have we learned today? In Ghana's ports can turn into Bermuda Triangles where things vanish and taxpayers lose millions.

ECG has mastered spending money it doesn’t have while sending cables on annual trips abroad.

And somewhere in Tema Port lies a lone container whispering for help…

Stay tuned for our sequel: How to Find Those Missing Containers Without Trying!