The search for hundreds of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) containers reported uncleared at the ports has slowed significantly, with the Ministry of Energy still unable to identify the whereabouts of approximately 283 containers out of the 2,760 cited in the Auditor-General’s report.
Deputy Energy Minister Richard Gyan-Mensah disclosed this when he appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Friday, October 16, 2026, where he provided an update on efforts to retrieve the containers.
He said about 2,000 containers had been retrieved and moved to facilities under the Ministry of Energy and ECG, while a committee tasked with investigating the matter continued efforts to trace the outstanding ones.
The Ministry expects to issue an official report by the end of October, detailing the number of containers recovered and those that remain unaccounted for.
Mr Gyan-Mensah said the exercise had initially progressed rapidly, with the team retrieving nearly 50 containers a day on some occasions. However, the process had since become more difficult, with the number recovered sometimes dropping to just two a day or none over an entire week.
The slowdown, he explained, was partly due to difficulties locating the remaining containers across different port terminals and verifying their details against customs and port records.
“This matter was referred to the Ministry, and it’s been handled by the Ministry. As we speak, about 2,000 of the containers have been evacuated and then kept with the Ministry of Energy, some with the ECG warehouse, which we’ll send for them,” he told the committee.
### Multi-agency committee intensifies search
The Deputy Minister said the Ministry had established a committee comprising representatives from the ports, security agencies, ECG, the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to coordinate the retrieval exercise.
The committee meets every Monday to assess progress, examine challenges and determine the next steps for locating the outstanding containers.
He said port authorities were also reviewing their documentation to help establish the identities and locations of containers that the team had so far been unable to trace.
According to him, the remaining work requires detailed checks across different terminals and the reconciliation of records held by the various institutions involved.
### Official report expected by October ending
Mr Gyan-Mensah said the Ministry had not yet released a final report because investigations and retrieval efforts were ongoing.
He indicated that the report would provide an official account of the containers recovered and those the committee could not identify or retrieve after completing its investigations.
“When we are done and it comes out officially that these numbers are not identified or we’re not able to retrieve them, the report to come out,” he said.
The report is expected to provide further clarity on the status of the containers flagged in the Auditor-General’s findings and the outcome of the Ministry’s efforts to account for them.
The latest disclosure leaves questions about the whereabouts of the remaining containers unresolved, pending the completion of the committee’s work and the publication of its findings.
