The Ministry of Energy and Green Transition has firmly rejected accusations that its Minister, John Jinapor, is inciting fear over the country’s ongoing power issues.
In a sharp rebuttal, the Ministry maintained that the Minister’s recent statements to Parliament were grounded in facts and aimed at fostering transparency about the energy sector’s challenges.
The allegations were made by the Member of Parliament for Walewale, Tia Abdul-Kabiru Mahama, who, during an interview with Channel One TV on Saturday, 17 May, accused Jinapor of perpetuating alarmist narratives.
According to Mahama, the Minister’s communication style since taking office has leaned heavily on fear, which he claims has allowed him to bypass standard procurement protocols under the guise of urgency.
“He’s been issuing one alarm after another,” Mahama remarked. “And I believe this approach is deliberate—to create the impression of emergencies that justify awarding contracts through sole-sourcing.”
“My oversight indicates that over GH¢200 million in such contracts have been handed out without due process. He needs to move from scaremongering to becoming a ‘hope monger’.”
Responding to the same programme, the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Richmond Rockson, refuted the MP’s claims.
He stressed that Minister Jinapor had simply provided an honest account of the state of Ghana’s energy sector during a recent presentation to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy.
Mr Rockson highlighted that the Minister’s objective was to inform, not to induce panic.
In particular, Rockson clarified that Jinapor addressed urgent matters such as the country’s rising energy sector debt, which stood at $3.1 billion as of December 2024, and the precarious state of fuel availability for thermal power plants.
“The Minister mentioned that there were only 2.6 days of fuel remaining at the time—but he also noted that fuel had subsequently been procured. Unfortunately, the latter point was largely omitted in media reports,” Rockson noted.
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