PUWU challenges Bawumia's allegations of sabotage by ECG staff

The Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU) of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has contested Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia's claims regarding alleged sabotage by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) officials against the government's digital revenue collection efforts.

During the Annual AGM of Anti-corruption Agencies in Africa on May 9, Dr. Bawumia accused certain IT unit staff at ECG

Read full articleof introducing ransomware to disrupt the functioning of the system.

However, PUWU issued a statement on Monday, May 13, refuting the Vice President's assertions as inaccurate and misleading.

The Union expressed disappointment over Dr. Bawumia's suggestion that ECG staff deliberately sabotaged a project beneficial to the company and Ghana.

PUWU clarified that in September 2022, the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) initiated a forensic audit on the ECG Power App, enlisting third-party IT professionals for the task.

Regarding the ransomware attacks, PUWU highlighted that the first attack on September 28, 2022, was reported to the Cyber Security Authority, and the National Security assumed control of ECG's ICT system afterward.

"In the midst of the takeover, the second and most severe of the ransomware attacks occurred on the 11th November 2022, at the time the National Security personnel had both full physical access and software administrative rights to all ECG systems. The National Security arrested and detained some ECG ICT staff for days but were later released."

The Union emphasized that despite National Security's involvement, ECG ICT staff spearheaded the system recovery efforts, working tirelessly to restore operations and assisting National Security operatives with system operations.

"In all these cases, the systems were restored with the major assistance by the ECG ICT staff. It is therefore factually inaccurate that National Security came in to recover the system, as reported by His Excellency the Vice President."

See the statement from PUWU below: