Ghana’s Minister for Energy Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has come under a barrage of criticisms from Ghanaians over a comment he made that was deemed insulting.
The Minister’s comments have attracted criticism from a section of Ghanaians and some industry players in the country, with some describing his comment as very disappointing.
Last Saturday, Minister Opoku Prempeh challenged Ghanaians who were demanding a load-shedding timetable from the power distribution companies, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NedCo) to enable them to plan to publish their timetable if they thought the country had returned to the era of erratic power supply, popularly known in the Ghanaian parlance as ‘Dumsor’, which was experienced between 2012 and 2016 under the previous administration.
He told a section of the Ghanaian media in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, that those calling for a load-shedding timetable were wishing evil for the West African nation.
“Ask those who want it to bring it if there is. I haven’t seen any timetable. The ECG says that there’s no timetable coming. Why do you want to bring a timetable…for what purpose? Why would somebody wake up and wish evil and wish bad for the country? When it is not planned, you can’t tell the person,” the Minister who is also a Member of Parliament for South Manhyia in the Ashanti Region stated when quizzed by some journalists in the Ashanti Region during the launching of the campaign team of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Saturday, March 23, 2024.
Since last year, Ghanaians have been experiencing power outages, with some areas experiencing outages either the whole day or hourly.
Earlier this month, the ECG issued a statement informing consumers that about 630 distribution transformers within communities across its operational areas have been identified to be full due to increased power demand.
“This situation may result in blown fuses and broken conductors causing outages, especially during the peak load period (7pm-11pm),” the company said.
This development compelled the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the regulator for electricity and water utility, to demand among other things load-shedding timetable from the ECG.
While the ECG is yet to comply with the regulatory order, Ghanaians especially some players in the industry, have been alarmed by the Minister’s comment.
Many Ghanaians took to social media to respond to the Minister’s comment.
Reacting to the Minister’s comment, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES) wondered why the Minister chose to call out those demanding a load-shedding timetable.
“It is very unfortunate but we are not surprised because the ECG boss said electricity was a privilege and so it has influenced the Minister’s comments and it tells us about what our leaders think of the power issues. They have already told us that there will be no timetable,” Nana Amoasi VII said on Accra-based Citi FM on Tuesday morning.
Nana Amoasi VII also attributed the ongoing power cuts to a liquidity challenge which he indicated runs through the power generation and distribution chain.
He said, “The issue with the power situation is a liquidity challenge and the challenge runs through all the power value chain and they [ECG] could not maintain their plants so they had to go through a shutdown. And the monies we generate is not enough to cover the maintenance of the value chain and that is why we owe the IPPs, WAPCO and others.”
On his part, Mr Edward Bawa, a former communication specialist at the Ministry of Energy and Member of Parliament for Bongo, said the Minister’s comments demonstrated the government’s lack of concern for Ghanaians.
He also suggested that the Minister’s remarks revealed his anger and disrespect towards the Ghanaians who have contributed to his current position.
“First and foremost, let me state that the comment by Honourable Matthew Opoku Prempeh is very unfortunate. It is a sign that we have a group of people who simply cannot care about how people feel. You can feel arrogance in his comments. You can feel disrespect for even the people who made you, who by their grace made you who you are in terms of being a Minister of State,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Energy Ministry, in a statement issued on Tuesday, clarified the Minister’s comment.
“The Ministry of Energy has taken notice of the spin around an interview granted to Joy News by Energy Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh on the margins of the inauguration of the New Patriotic Party’s Ashanti Regional campaign team last Sunday.
“The rather innocuous statements of the Minister as captured by the interview have been distorted to portray him as being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians and, thus, we wish to avert the minds of Ghanaians to the context of the interview and clarify as follows..,” the statement said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com