Patrick Yaw Boamah is the Member of Parliament for Okaikwei Central
The Member of Parliament for Okaikwei Central, Patrick Yaw Boamah, has urged the Minister of Energy and Green Transition, Dr John Abdulai Jinapor to appear before Parliament to provide answers and clarity regarding the incident involving the missing ECG containers.
According to the lawmaker, who represents the New Patriotic Party (NPP), there are several conflicting reports regarding the ECG containers.
He argued that while initial reports indicated that some containers had gone missing, new information suggests that twice the previously reported number have now been located at the Tema Port.
The minister, he added, must address the issue in the interest of transparency and accountability, and provide a detailed report on the actual number of allegedly missing containers and those that have been recovered.
“The Minister said there are about 1,300 and something. Now GPHA is telling us that they’ve recovered about 2,600 containers. We also heard of about 3,000 containers. That’s why we are going to ask the Minister to come and give us the true position of what happened, what has been recovered, whether they were missing or misplaced. How can containers also be misplaced? It happens at the port and it’s not the first time,” Boamah said while addressing the media in his office in Parliament.
In light of the developments and conflicting reports surrounding the ECG containers, Boamah criticised the tendency of some public officials to play to the public gallery by making premature announcements without sufficient evidence or verified information.
He expressed concern that such actions are often politically motivated, aimed at discrediting opponents, only for the truth to emerge later, forcing those officials to retract or revise their earlier statements.
“If you are a public officer, don’t be quick to call a news conference because what I’ve seen is that people want to vilify their opponents but it will end up being that, ‘oh, what I told the media early on was not a true position.’ At that time, you would have destroyed a person to the public,” he stated.
He added, “That’s why I’m asking that people or public officials should not be too quick to call news conferences and speak about issues about ‘oh, this person has stolen this, this person has done this, this container is missing, we’ve uncovered this rot’, because it’s all about evidence. When you are called to defend what you said at a court of competent jurisdiction, you will be asked to provide the requisite evidence. It’s not about hearsay alone.”
Background
A joint investigative committee has uncovered 2,637 previously unaccounted-for containers consigned to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), more than doubling the initially reported figure of 1,300 containers.
In an interview with 3News, as monitored by GhanaWeb Business, on May 26, 2025 the Spokesperson and Head of Communications at the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, Richmond Rockson, confirmed that the containers were located at multiple terminals within the Tema Port, raising concerns.
The discovery was made by a special committee comprising representatives from National Security, the Ministry of Transport, the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA), and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
As of April 30, 2025, the containers were found at the following locations:
860 at Meridian Port Services
1,237 at GPHA Terminals
272 already evacuated by National Security
194 at Amaris Terminal
20 at ATLAS Manufacturing Terminal
According to the committee, further investigations revealed that 2,437 of the containers had exceeded the 60-day clearance period, resulting in significant demurrage charges.
Authorities are continuing efforts to address the backlog and prevent future lapses in the importation and clearance process.
MAG/MA
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