General News of Thursday, 12 February 2015
Source: Starrfmonline.com
State power distributor Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has accused the media of stoking public hatred against the company.
ECG says the media are spewing falsehood against the company because of the worsening power crisis.
Speaking on the Ultimate Breakfast Show on Thursday, the Ashanti Regional Public Relations Director, Erasmus Kyere-Baidoo told Prince Minkah that though his outfit acknowledges the role of the media in developing the country, some news outlets are taking advantage of the current power crisis to unjustifiably hang the company.
“You have gone wrong on many occasions. We understand the role of the media, the Constitution clearly defines it…but what we have noticed is that some of the media houses intentionally set out an agenda just to make ECG look hostile in the eyes of the ordinary consumer.
“Throughout this crisis period, everybody is focusing on ECG as if ECG is the cause and bad boy of the group.
“What we notice is that in terms of bringing out the issues, you frame the picture as if ECG is this, ECG is that… I am here for ECG, but sometimes I speak on even VRA [power producer Volta River Authority] and GRIDco [power transmitter Ghana Grid Company Limited] matters”, Kyere-Baidoo mentioned.
The ECG has released a new load shedding timetable for both commercial and residential consumers in relation to the load shedding exercise.
Ghana is currently shedding between 440 and 650 Megawatts during off-peak and peak periods respectively. Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor attributes the crisis to poor hydrology in the hydro-electric power stations as well as a breakdown of thermal plants and the lack of gas from the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGPco) to power other thermal plants in the country.
As part of measures towards dealing with the issue, Government intends bringing in two emergency power barges with an installed capacity of 450 megawatts to help the situation. The first barge is due in April.