Deputy Director in charge of Operations at the Presidency, Mustapha Gbande, has called for the immediate arrest of Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, over his alleged role in the disappearance of over 1,300 containers of cables belonging to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) at the Tema Port.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Monday, March 31, Gbande insisted that Afenyo-Markin, who he claims was a key figure overseeing ECG operations at the time, should be held accountable.
“I’m very hopeful that after this holiday and also because Parliament is on recess, all efforts would be made to get Afenyo-Markin arrested,” he stated.
He further argued that there is overwhelming evidence to warrant immediate action against Afenyo-Markin, pointing to confessions and statements made by the majority leader and other key figures linked to the scandal.
“There is no evidence stronger than what a man confesses and says. Do you need any other evidence more than confessions? Statements of individuals who are prime actors within the institution that these have happened. Do you need anything more than that?” he questioned.
Gbande criticized authorities for focusing on foreign nationals allegedly involved in the scandal while failing to hold top ECG officials accountable.
“Afenyo-Markin should be giving statements to investigative bodies at this time because he is a principal actor and supervisor of ECG at the time that these crimes occurred. Why are you investigating a Chinese man, who with the collusion of Ghanaians—and it would not have happened without the involvement of high-ranking managers at ECG—committing this crime without the Managing Director, without the board chairman at this time immediately arrested to answer questions for this irresponsible supervision of the institution?”
The scandal involves the loss of critical electrical equipment and materials intended for national power distribution.
According to reports, the missing containers were shipped into Ghana to support ECG operations but vanished under suspicious circumstances.
The issue first came to light through a report, which revealed that procurement irregularities and questionable transactions had taken place within ECG.
Meanwhile, the National Security Council Secretariat has strongly indicated that it will continue to pursue the perpetrators responsible for the disappearance of the ECG containers.
The Secretariat confirmed that additional individuals have been apprehended, bringing the total number of suspects arrested to 14.
The Director of Investigations at the Secretariat, Chief Superintendent Osman Alhassan, made these remarks during a tour of some aluminum smelting companies near Shai Hills which were identified for melting the stolen cables into aluminum rods for export.
