Ghana’s largest labour federation has issued a renewed warning to the government against any plans to privatise the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), underscoring its long-standing opposition to foreign or private sector control of key national assets.

In a strongly worded response to the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policies, the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) said it remained “resolute” in resisting any form of privatisation or private sector participation in ECG, the country’s main power distributor.

“Our resolve to resist privatisation or private sector participation is at an all-time high,” the TUC said as quoted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA). “We reiterate that the TUC and its affiliates consider privatisation and private sector participation as one and the same.”

The union recalled its original opposition to privatisation in 2017 under the first Akufo-Addo administration, a position it says remains unchanged under the current government led by President John Mahama.

“In line with the resolution passed at the 10th Quadrennial Delegates Congress of TUC held in August 2016, we will resist any attempt to privatise ECG,” it stated.

The statement suggests the government is still pushing for privatisation despite labour resistance. The TUC warned that such moves could undermine national interests, stressing that “strategic reforms including getting politics and politicians off the back of ECG” offer a better route to efficiency and sustainability.

The ECG has long faced operational challenges, including inefficiencies and mounting debts. However, past attempts at private-sector management — including the controversial concession agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS) in 2019 — ended in failure amid allegations of fraud and governance lapses.

Beyond the privatisation debate, the TUC sharply criticised the 2025 budget for failing to present a credible path to economic recovery.

“More than three years after COVID-19 ended, economic growth is only beginning to recover. Inflation remains high. Cost-of-living has skyrocketed. Real incomes have fallen for most workers. Joblessness is rampant, particularly among young people. The national debt stock is unsustainable despite the debt exchange programme.”

The union blamed Ghana’s current economic woes on the continuation of a neo-liberal economic model that has dominated national policy for over four decades.

“Some of these challenges have persisted over several years. They emanate from the neo-liberal economic management framework that Ghana has pursued in the last four decades,” the TUC said.

While the 2025 budget acknowledged the need for structural reform, the TUC said it failed to offer a meaningful departure from past models. The union called for a fundamental reset of the macroeconomic framework, placing job creation at the centre of national economic strategy.

“Ghana needs a new model of economic management that seeks to qualitatively change the structure of the economy,” the TUC said. “This will enable Government to fund national development from domestic revenues, obviate the need for borrowing and reduce our debt burden.”

Meanwhile, tensions are mounting between Ghana and the United States over unpaid debts to American companies, including the ECG, raising concerns that Washington may withhold future support for the country’s $3bn IMF bailout programme.

The US government is pressing Ghana to settle outstanding obligations amounting to more than $100mn for services rendered by American multinational firms the ECHG and other state-owned entities, including telecommunications services provider AirtelTigo.

In January, the then-Ranking Member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator James E. Risch, wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the United States – the largest shareholder in the IMF – to block any further disbursements to Ghana until the $251mn owed to American companies was paid.