A former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, has described as \u201ccomplete nonsense,\u201d the unreliable timetable from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).<\/p>\n
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has postponed until further notice,\u00a0the release of a timetable<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0for the ongoing power rationing for further consultation with stakeholders.<\/p>\n \u201cThis idea that they will put out a programme this week, then next week they will say we will solve the problem, another two weeks, they will come back with another load shedding programme is nonsense; it\u2019s complete nonsense!\u201d he fumed.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”JR78eCxnGcT5beGArJ05XdTP63P36A5D”]The country is experiencing power crisis as a result of labour unrest in Nigeria which has halted the supply of natural gas to Ghana, which is affecting the production of electricity and onward distribution to consumers.<\/p>\n The VRA has indicated it would have to bear huge operational costs by purchasing light crude oil<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>for the production of electricity.<\/p>\n The Energy Ministry has given stated that the power rationing is likely to continue for a few more weeks.<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n It has also announced that emergency power badges are to be purchased to augment electricity supply.<\/p>\n But according to the former VRA boss, even though he supported the purchase of emergency power, \u201cthe approach has been wrong\u2026we\u2019ve compounded the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained that the principle of emergency power is not the procurement of equipment for several million dollars but \u201call you have to do basically is to look for people who have the badges and pay your price and the electricity is delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n Hope over reality \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Wereko-Brobby admonished the government to desist from putting \u201chope over reality\u201d by finding lasting a solution to the problem.<\/p>\n He pointed out that the idea of building a new power plant or a badge which will be completed between 9 to 12 months will not solve the existing power challenges<\/p>\n \u201cLet us solve the problems now before we look to the future prospect,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [government] are proffering future solutions while the problem is now\u2026we should bite the bullet\u2026 Let\u2019s stop talking about agreements, let\u2019s talk about delivering, let\u2019s stop \u2018dumsor dumsor\u2019 now!\u201d<\/p>\n According to Wereko-Brobby, the practice whereby the Energy Minister \u201cgives all deadlines on when Atuabo will be ready, when T3 will be ready\u201d when power crisis rears its head is unnecessary because in reality, \u201call those deadlines have been missed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll those agreements they are signing will not see the light of day probably in my lifetime and the next five years or seven years if we are still here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Extensive load shedding programme<\/strong><\/p>\n The former VRA CEO is recommending the drafting of a load shedding programme which will last till December 2014.<\/p>\n This he said will help people plan their lives \u201cso that there is some realism\u2026The point is that, we should not be running \u2018dumsor dumsor\u2019 load shedding programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe should have a sustained load shedding programmes that allows Ghanaian businesses and Ghanaian citizens and everybody else living here to plan their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially, GRIDCo gives direction to NEDCO and ECG about load shedding but the point I\u2019m making is that, let\u2019s stop beating about the bush, running away from reality, let\u2019s do it for maybe until Christmas and let industry and Ghanaians be able to plan,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Politicization of power crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Wereko-Brobby, a suspended member of Ghana\u2019s main opposition, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) wants an immediate end to the constant politicization of issues relating to the energy sector.<\/p>\n \u201cStop this thing about opposition versus the government. No decent country discusses its basic social problems in terms of political gains.\u201d<\/p>\n He recalled that Ghana has been having power challenges since 1983 and \u201cwhen you put political spin over talking serious oil business and engineering business, this [power crisis] will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Wereko-Brobby remarked that when \u201cwe reduce everything to claiming credit; the people are suffering because people are trying to claim political credit instead of sitting there and solving the problems.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost of these problems came because when Kufuor\u2019s government were overthrown, a lot of projects were held in abeyance for three, four, five years and we are still carrying on this political mishmash.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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