Workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are angry at the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) over what they say is “gross disrespect” shown them in the privatization of the company.

National Secretary of ECG Senior Staff, Patrick Benyemi, says the dealings of MiDA regarding the decision to give the nation’s power distributor to a concessionaire have been shrouded in secrecy which would affect the country in the foreseeable future.

“MiDA has done it once again. The Authority is wearing a very big mask which we’ve been trying to remove it for Ghanaians to see it. We say [privatization] of ECG is a wrong deal,” he said.

Mr Benyemi made these remarks during an interview with Dzifa Bampoh, host of Joy FM’s Top Story programme Wednesday.

ECG workers have been on a three-day strike over treatments meted out to them by MiDA regarding negotiations leading to the privatization of the company.

Their bid to draw MiDA to the negotiation table was dealt a terrible blow Wednesday following the coming into force of the Ghana Power Compact II treaty signed between the governments of Ghana and United States of America (USA) on August 5, 2014.

Chief Executive Officer of MiDA, Ing Owura Sarfo, says the Compact will enable the country to access $498 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

The country, he says “met all the conditions precedent to Entry into Force of the Compact and submitted all the required documentation in that respect.”

Under the agreement, government of Ghana is expected to implement the six components under the Compact Program within five years. The projects include; ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, NEDCo Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project, and Access Project.

The others are Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management Project would have to be implemented to address the recurrent energy crisis in Ghana.

Reacting to the news, Mr Benyemi says MiDA has disrespected them when it signed the Compact II even with glaring outstanding issues to be resolved.

He also revealed they would be meeting MiDA on Thursday but he is wondering what the Authority would tell them.

According to him, before handing the company to the concessionaire it was agreed that a monitoring performance would be put in place but this has not been done.

There was also supposed to be a “tariff methodology” that has to be determined by the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission (PURC) but this has not been done either, he bemoaned.

With the ECG worth over $1 billion, Mr Benyemi wants to know how much the concessionaire is bringing on board to help revive the company as was claimed by government.