Former Minister for Power, Dr Kwabena Donkor, says he will not be surprised to learn that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) paid a ransom for the restoration of its hacked system.

ECG in the past few days had technical challenges affecting smooth service provision to prepaid customers in some operational areas of the country.

Some ECG customers could not top up electric power credit on prepaid metres for the past few days.

However, speaking on the Morning Starr Dr Donkor advised the government to have a vigorous Information Technology (IT) system that can curb losses in the system and resist cybercrime.

According to him, there is a global trend of cybercrime, therefore, the government must improve its system “so that you will not be held hostage by cybercriminals either within or without.

“I wouldn’t say that we were made to pay a ransom but I don’t rule that out. It is a global trend and so you can’t rule that out. Banks elsewhere have had their IT system hijacked and they’ve been forced to pay ransom in other jurisdictions. Nothing makes us exceptional,” the lawmaker added.

He said there are close to 30 percent losses even before the ECG sells, adding that it is only technology that will minimize losses, especially the commercial losses.

Meanwhile, the Management of ECG in a release dated October 1, 2022 stated that the issues of the third part vending have been resolved.