General News of Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Source: Joy Online
A former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority, Dr Wereko-Brobby has described anybody who claims Ghana can be a net exporter of electricity as a “gyimifuo,” to wit ‘a fool’ in English.
Presidents past and present, as well as technocrats in charge of energy generation in the country have claimed that Ghana has the means to develop and export power, but Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby says such a claim is not grounded in the appropriate facts.
President John Mahama, according to a report in the Informer newspaper, “has given assurances that with the rate of work currently ongoing at the Takoradi 2 Thermal Power Project (T2) in Aboadze, Ghana will soon be a net exporter of power if it achieves its target of 5,000 megawatts of power by 2016.”
But Dr Wereko-Brobby, speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show of Wednesday April 10, 2013, insisted: “Nobody should talk about exporting electricity in this country. Never! Electricity is not cocoa, gold or bauxite. Electricity is meant to be used to work and improve Ghana. Nkrumah did not give us electricity to be exported, he said we should use it to add value to cocoa, gold and export them to make more money.”
He continued: “It’s not just the (current) President who has said it.
President Kufuor also said it because of what they were told by the technocrats, especially those people at the Energy Commission who write anything and get the president to read it. (But) anybody who says we can export electricity should be hooted at and driven away. Obiaa obe kase ye be export electricity wagyimi paa, sebe sebe wagyimi,” (anybody who says we should export electricity is a fool).”
Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby also dismissed a claim by Mr Kweku Awotwe, current Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA) that although Ghana is currently experiencing power rationing, in terms of access to electricity Ghana ranks highest on the continent.
“What does he mean by access? Is it that you can access it in your home, or it is available on paper?”