The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament has accused government of not being truthful about reasons for the recurring power crisis.
The Petroleum Minister, Emmanuel Kofi Buah, earlier indicated that the current power challenges are as a result of insecurity at the Niger Delta area.
[contextly_sidebar id=”bIKByFURer1WfhwebLZveVngWuyWSYy7″]He claimed that gas supply from Nigeria had been disrupted by terror attacks on the pipelines in the West African country.
But the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto in an interview with Citi News dismissed the Minister’s suggestion, saying credible information available to the Minority indicates that the challenge is due to government’s indebtedness to the West African Gas Pipeline and N-Gas of Nigeria.
“ We are not getting the power, we owe NGas, we owe WAPCO and Ghana Gas, then we say it is saboteurs in Nigeria. What does this have to do with it, you simply owe and that’s it. We want stable electricity at reasonable price, we have been paying higher tariffs. Remember the PURC gave us 59.5 and then under electricity another 10 percent was brought, we are paying.We don’t think this is fair,” Akoto Osei complained.
Mr. Akoto’s claim about the cause of the challenges not being as a result demolished pipelines in Nigeria, has been confirmed by the WAPCco.
This was confirmed by the Corporate Affairs Director for WAPCo, Harriet Wereko-Brobbey in an interview with Citi Business News on Tuesday.
“On the issue of pipelines, I think we all hear about pipeline sabotage and so on, but the point I am making is that, WAPCo’s issue is on gas transportation on the WAP-P. The WAP-P is in good condition. We are in the position to transport and we have suspended transportation because of payment,” Harriet Wereko Brobbey stressed.
WAPco dismisses $30m payment to N-Gas
The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), also rejected claims that the government has paid some 30 million dollars as part payment of the over 100 million dollars debts owed the company.
The Minister of Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah in an interview with Citi Business News on Monday, announced that Ghana had paid some 30 million dollars out of the reported 140 million dollars it owes WAPCo. Mr. Buah intimated that, the payment formed part of a payment plan government agreed on with N-Gas. WAPCo, in June, suspended gas flow to Ghana over unpaid bills by the government.
But Harriet Wereko-Brobbey who spoke to Citi Business News, explained that her outfit is yet to receive information from N-Gas, the government of Ghana’s suppliers of gas, regarding such payment.
We’re not back to dumsor – Mahama
President John Mahama recently shied away from declaring that the country has returned to the load shedding regime, despite acknowledging challenges with power supply in the country.
Addressing Muslims during this year’s Eid Mubarak, the President attributed the recent power outages to challenges in getting crude to power some of the country’s thermal plants.
“We are not declaring load shedding; I believe things will normalize but we are taking steps everyday to ensure that Ghana has security when it comes to power,” he emphasized.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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