By Godwill Arthur- Mensah
Accra, May 19, GNA – The New Patriotic Party Minority Caucus in Parliament has expressed misgivings about President Mahama-led Government’s continuous excuses and failure to resolve the frequent power outages in the country.
The Minority identified financial challenges facing the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as the major cause of the outages and urged the government to immediately release funds to pay the debts owed to the IPPs to generate sufficient power to address the energy crises.
The Minority’s call follows Mr John Abdulai Jinapor, the Energy and Green Transition Minister’s recent comments that it was left with 2.6 days of fuel in stock, thus, causing fear and panic among the citizens about imminent prolonged power outages in the country.
During a press conference at Parliament House in Accra on Monday in response to the Energy Minister’s comments, Mr George Kwame Aboagye, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee, said the Minister’s recent claim that Ghana had only 2.6 days of fuel left was not only baseless but economically damaging.
He said such remarks create an atmosphere of uncertainty and instability, which was detrimental to investor confidence.
“Power is the lifeblood of industry, and such statements send panic through businesses still recovering from the aftershocks of Covid-19 and global economic turbulence,” Mr Aboagye stated.
Mr Aboagye remarked: “Stop the fear-mongering and focus on fixing fuel supply for IPPs and engage stakeholders to re-negotiate burdensome take-or-pay contracts”.
He underscored the need for government to strategically set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Northern Electricity Company (NEDCO), to reduce operational and distribution losses and improve revenue collection.
The Minority urged the government to diversify the energy mix with renewables and gas optimization to reduce reliance on imported fuels as well as accelerating the roll-out of smart metres to curb electricity thefts.
The Minority said this was not the first time the Minister had painted a gloomy picture about the country’s energy situation, noting :”During the swearing-in ceremony of the President, he alarmingly stated that Ghana was left with ‘”only five hours of fuel,” a comment he later retracted after clarifying that it pertained to Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO).
Mr Aboagye observed that the pattern of “panic-then-retreat” communication was unacceptable and entreated the Minister to stop frightening Ghanaians and start fixing the energy challenges after five months in government.
The Minority stated that the erstwhile New Patriotic Party Government under Akufo-Addo inherited a similar situation in January 2017 with over two billion dollars energy sector debt due to excess capacity payments linked to legacy ‘Take-or-Pay’ contracts signed by President Mahama’s first-term in office between 2013 and 2016.
The Minority indicated that despite those challenges, the Akufo-Addo-led Government kept the lights on for eight years.
The Minority noted that President Mahama campaigned on a “24-hour economy” with his bold vision requiring “uninterrupted power supply” and thus urged the Energy Minister to show leadership and come out with pragmatic solution to addressing the current energy crises.
GNA
CA