The Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) has justified moves by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to take over the Ghana Gas Company.
Confusion broke out between the Management of Ghana Gas and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum over the latter’s assertion that the GNPC had finally taken over Ghana Gas.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Ee5Rpsjl492YwyN4WkrvRN1tq7DFW2og”]Whereas the Ministry in a press statement on Thursday announced a takeover of Ghana Gas by the GNPC, the Board Chairman of the company, Dr Kwesi Botchwey, issued a counter statement challenging GNPC’s take over claims.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, however, the Head of Research at ACEP, Peter Amewu emphasized the need for the take over to take place since the GNPC has the technical expertise to oversee the operations of Ghana Gas.
“ It is proper that this measure of the takeover of the Ghana Gas company should be allowed to work because GNPC has the technical experience. The GNPC is competent because they had once demonstrated their ability during their work with the West African Gas pipeline,” he remarked.
He said the current brouhaha surrounding the takeover is as a result of the government’s poor handling of the energy sector.
According to him, the Mahama-led government had shown little commitment to resolving challenges facing the sector.
He further accused the government of being careless about issues relating to energy in the country saying, “…we are dealing with a government that does not take the energy sector seriously and thinks that the problems within the sector will be solved on its own without any aggressive mechanism.”
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By: Patricia Conteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana