The Deputy Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for the Ellembele constituency, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has slammed the President Akufo Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for signing two new Take-or-Pay Power Pact Agreements (PPAs) seeking to increase the country’s power generation capacity when they criticized such a decision as reckless when they were in opposition.
According to him, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) signing of these new Power Pact Agreements in these final years is a vindication of the wise decision taken by Former President Mahama and his government to restore the shortfall in power in the year 2012.
The Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, disclosed that the Government has decided to augment the country’s power intake to meet the growing needs of the citizenry and the demands of the industry by signing two Power Purchase Agreements to generate some 750 Megawatts of power.
However, in a sharp response at a press conference held in Parliament, the Deputy Minority Leader who was a Former Minister for Energy under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government led by Former President John Dramani Mahama, says the NDC stands vindicated by the news that the NPP government has signed new Power Pact Agreements to increase the power generation capacity of the country.
He argued that it is hypocritical of a government that vilified Former President Mahama and his government for signing Power Purchase Agreements which they claim to be excess power that is not needed, to turn around to do the same thing they criticized.
“The NPP Government’s decision to increase power generation by signing two PPAs of 750 MW as I can see in the headlines of the Daily Graphic, is a clear vindication and the confirmation of the wise decision by the NDC led by Former President John Dramani Mahama. It clearly shows that he was a visionary and the decisions that he made when Ghana found herself in ‘dumsor’ was a wise one.”
He argued that “One of the main reasons why the country went into dumsor during those periods of NDC is that, for the 8 years that the NPP was in power, they failed to plan properly when it came to power additions.
“On an annual basis, this country’s economy is expanding, industries are rising. As you can see, on an annual basis there is the need for at least 200 MW. The NPP for 8 years failed to address that. So, by the time the NDC came to power, this deficit resulted in the unfortunate drying up of the Akosombo dam, then we had a crisis that we all termed ‘dumsor’.”
He added that, to address this situation, the NDC administration under the Late Former President Mills and John Mahama, decided to take a systematic step to increase power generation capacity. Indicating that to address the issue of fuel, the NDC administration brought the country to the gas era by establishing the Atuabo Gas plant and bringing in the ENI gas project.
“Instead of thanking President Mahama, they have spent the best of the 7 years so far in power to vilify him and called his government reckless by saying that the energy sector was indebted because the PPAs were oversubscribed.
“Today, with the decision by the NPP Government that annually we are increasing power and there is the need for power additions. The Minister of Energy just announced a 750 MW PPA signed. I ask: “Have they just got up from sleep and slumber? Why is it that all of a sudden they have realized the need to add power?”
“We want to state clearly that this is a vindication of the wise decisions of the NDC Government. All the power plants that were brought, over 1000 MW were the result of the stability we have seen in the last 7 years. These PPAs that have been signed, are take or pay agreements.
“Truth be told, nobody in his right mind would come and invest over 500 million dollars when he knows that he is producing the power to a country where the ultimate off-taker is ECG which is indebted. Do you think he won’t have guarantees to get his money? So, why is it that they couldn’t even sign PPAs that are not take-or-pay? I brought this up to let you know that this government has serious credibility issues,” he observed.
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
