Mr. Bawa, who once worked at the Energy Ministry at the peak of the power crisis in the previous NDC administration, believes the reduction compromises the revenue projections for utility providers and power generators thereby exposing them to debt.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ln2zSrdS06O0OikLWD98D3UHgJQBiykX”]”If you look at the challenges that brought us into dumsor, apart from the capacity and fuel security, it also had to do with the financial health of the utilities,” he said on Eyewitness News.

“The current move, the reduction is on the energy charges, it is an encroachment on their revenues because energy charges are one of the accruals that the utilities will make.”

In line with longstanding promises from the government, residential customers per the new tariff cuts are to enjoy a 17.5% reduction, while non-residential customers will see tariffs cut by 30%.

Those in the mining sector have also been given a 10% tariff cut, and 25% cut for Special Load Tariff Customers (LV, MV & HV).

The Public Utilities and Regulations Commission (PURC) said the decision was arrived at after extensive consultations with stakeholders in the sector, as well as detailed analysis of proposals tendered in by companies in the power distribution chain.

But Mr. Bawa said the government was risking energy security in the name of promises.

“I know the factors that took us to dumsor. Those factors are still lingering. My fear is that, if we don’t consolidate a make this system robust, and just because of the fact we want to satisfy electoral promises, we go into situations like this we may expose ourselves to yet another dumsor.”

Reduce taxes instead

Mr. Bawa further argued that the government should be “focusing on the burden it puts on the tariffs in terms of taxes and levies.”

“For example, you have a VAT of 17.5 percent on it. In all these arrangements, the take that goes to the state and the take to the government has not been touched.”

He suggested that the government simply reduce the taxes on the tariff, which will still benefit industry by allowing them to expand because of the reduced energy costs

“Industry will expand, they will make profits; you tax those profits. They expand, they employ people and you still tax incomes. This is how you will get it [revenue]. It is an indirect road but you will eventually get the money. That is the proposal I am making,” Mr. Bawa said.

Bullying from gov’t

Mr. Bawa, had earlier advised PURC not to yield to any pressure from the government to reduce tariffs beyond realistic margins.

Mr. Bawa also encouraged the PURC to withstand what he termed as “bullying” from government and put the interest of the country ahead of political interest with regards to the adjustment of utility tariffs.

The PURC has however insisted that it was not pressured into effecting these reductions, and that such major reviews are done every two years.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Tariff reduction could take us back to ‘dumsor’ – Bawa appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ghana Grid Company Limited’s (GRIDCo) Public Relations Officer, Albert Quainoo, told Citi News his outfit was working to restore the power, and that has since been done.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LyfvJcBsUWXJn04TIhnuL28fjCdZUFEV”]”It was a sudden loss of generation from the East; Akosombo and Kpong, and we are trying to ascertain what led to that. But our immediate priority is to restore load to consumers and we have already started doing that. We are working around the clock to make sure that we do this to all consumers within the shortest possible time,” he explained.

Mr. Quainoo at the time could only confirm the outage in parts of Greater Accra and Northern Regions.

As at 11:30 am on Tuesday, Ghana was generating 364 megawatts of power, per Citi News’ checks.

This figure improved to around 543 megawatts by 12 noon.

At its peak consumption, Ghana needs about 2,200 megawatts, which is generally matched by the country’s available peak generation which stands at 2,400.

Blackouts in January

A disturbance in GRIDCo’s transmission network led to power outages that hit parts of the country on January 29.

GRIDCo clarified that the blackout was caused by an interference in their transmission network after many affected Ghanaians complained to Citi News about the issue.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Hitches at Akosombo, Kpong caused brief Tuesday ‘dumsor’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

To this end, the framers of the Constitution provided that anytime Government intends to enter into any agreement with any foreign entity that has economic or business interest,the agreement must be subject to prior parliamentary approval or ratification before it can have any legal effect.

So starting from the Faroe Atlantic decision, the Supreme Court has said that in view of the fact that the Power Purchase Agreement was not ratified by Parliament, no legal liabilities will flow from it.

This view of the Supreme Court in construing Article 181(5) was applied in the case of Balkan Energy in respect of another Power Purchase Agreement that did not receive parliamentary approval or ratification.

The Supreme Court unanimously said that the requirements of parliamentary approval or ratification is to ensure probity, transparency, and accountability as stated in the Preamble to the Constitution.

Hence,the Supreme Court in the subsequent decisions in Waterville and Isofoton ordered that payments made in respect of contracts or agreement made in contravention of Article 181(5) of the Constitution must be refunded except without interest.

That has been the posturing of the Supreme Court in dealing with such investment cases.

This posturing of the Supreme Court has been criticized by Lawyers and investors as very dangerous and unduly harsh against the innocent investor.

These agreements are signed by Government officials, who should know about the laws of Ghana.

The investor should not be the one to be made to suffer for the conduct of the public officer in failing to take the Agreement to Parliament for ratification.

It is important to emphasize that there is something called “sanctity of contracts”, which enjoins parties to a contract to act in accordance with same or observe the terms of the Agreement.

Such that failure to observe the terms of that contract has always resulted in damages against the offending party.
From 2017, the current administration under the Presidency of H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo has decided to criminalize or input criminality into agreements signed by the previous administration headed by then President John Mahama.

One of such agreement is the Ameri transaction.

In the midst of the dumsor or energy crisis that resurfaced from 2007 when the water levels in the Akosombo dam went so low.

The Kuffour administration initiated the Bui Dam project with Chinese facility to be paid partly with our cocoa.
That project was continued and completed by the Mills-Mahama administration without cancellation or renegotiation threats.

That project is now generating about 250-300 megawatts at an estimated cost of $700m.
Around 2014-2015, in order to fix the crippling power crisis, Government of Ghana decided to fix the problem on an emergency basis.

Based on this emergency situation, Government of Ghana went for the AMERI POWER PROJECT.

Government officials from the Volta River Authority, Ministry of Power, Attorney General Department, Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, Energy Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency among many others helped in putting the BOOT Agreement with the Ameri together to generate 250 megawatts emergency power plants to fix the dumsor problem.

Ameri was to build, operate, transfer of a 250 megawatts emergency power plants for the Government of Ghana through VRA.

Events under the transaction.
On the issue of the cost of the equipment.
•The agreement with AMERI is a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement and not an outright purchase of generating plants.

• The Government of Ghana has not made ANY PAYMENTS to AMERI and will not be making any payments for the cost of the equipment.

• Per the agreement with AMERI, the Government of Ghana through the Volta River Authority (VRA) will only make payments to Ameri for power produced and supplied to the VRA just like any other Independent Power Producer (IPP).

This is how the due diligence was done on the Ameri Power Plants.

• The Government of Ghana has an agreement with AMERI Energy.

• His Royal Highness, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al-Maktoum, Member of the Ruling family of Dubai is the Chairman of Ameri Energy.

• The Bank of Ghana before establishing the Standby LC conducted its own due diligence on AMERI Energy.

• The American firm, JP Morgan also independently conducted its own due diligence before confirming the Standby LC for the project.

• Government of Ghana represented by the Ministry of Power and the Attorney General’s Department also conducted due diligence on AMERI Energy and reviewed strenuously the project agreement before submitting to Parliament.

• Parliament, upon receipt of relevant documentation on the project and the agreement, also scrutinized and reviewed the agreement before approving it at the Committee Level unanimously and later by the House.

Government of Ghana through VRA only pays Ameri for electricity generated and given to VRA and transmitted to ECG. So VRA won’t pay Ameri unless they have vetted and approved of payment of power actually supplied. Also remember that Government of Ghana did not pay outright for the plants.

Government could not buy it outright because there was no such funds available to do that immediately. Remember that the Ameri plants were deployed within 90 days,the shortest emergency power plants deployment in Ghana.

An emergency power plants deployment.

Extensive due diligence was done by both external and internal organizations.

From the reputed JP Morgan Chase,to Price Water House and others.

The tariff was independently approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission.

Energy Commission gave the necessary statutory approvals.

The NPP Ranking Member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament,Hon KT Hammond, on the floor of the house did not show any disapproval when Hon Yieleh Chereh move the motion for the adoption of the Committee

Report on the transaction.
The entire house approved it without objections.

The Supreme Court in the various decision in Faroe Altantic,Balkan Energy,Waterville among others held that the requirements of parliamentary approval for power purchase agreement within the meaning of international business transactions under Article 181(5) of the Constitution is to promote accountability,probity,transparency and due diligence.

Minister has signed the agreement,Parliament has the responsibility to independently conduct its own due diligence among others.

Same was done.

Parliament is always presumed to have acted right unless it is established that Parliament acted unconstitutional.

Before Parliament adopted and approved it? Parliament subsequently had the responsibility to independently review it.

Parliament had the power to reject the entire transaction.

Parliament satisfied itself that everything was right and approved it at the Committee and the House.

It is instructive to note that that the Ameri transaction was subsequently ratified by the Public Procurement

Authority Board pursuant to the Public Procurement Act as amended.

This is an agreement that has received the most vetting by statutory institutions.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Agreement was ratified by Parliament without objection(s),the current Parliament pursuant to a motion filed by NPP MP, Hon KT Hammond, to have the Ameri transaction varied or reviewed by Parliament.

Based on this motion,the Speaker of Parliament referred the matter to a Select Committee of Parliament to deal with it.

The question is,does Parliament have the constitutional authority to do deal with an agreement that it is not a party to?

Can Parliament review or set aside or abrogate an agreement it is not a party to?

To resolve this question,I need to first establish who are the parties to this agreement?

The answer to this question is readily apparent on the face of the Agreement.

It is strictly between the Government of Ghana represented by the Minister of Power and AMERI without more.

Parliament of Ghana is not a party to the Agreement.

The role of Parliament as provided for by the Constitution is found in Article 181(5) of the Constitution.

It is only in respect of RATIFICATION.

Has the Agreement being ratified?

The answer is in the affirmative.

When Parliament has ratified the Agreement,it’s role has ended.

It has become functus officio.

If you are not a party to an agreement,can you abrogate,review or set aside?

The answer is a big NO.

Basic contract law will tell you that it is only the parties to the Agreement that can terminate,review or set it aside.

In exceptional circumstances,where third party rights are reserved,it must be so done expressly.

I am fortified in this proposition by the decision of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had this to say,

“I cannot see any direct role for parliament in the termination of the agreement in this case after it has approved the

same. Any undue interference with the operation of the contract will damage the commercial image of the government to the detriment of the public interest.

The purpose of requiring parliamentary approval of agreements or measures of critical national importance has been held by this court to be to ensure transparency, openness and parliamentary consent in the national interest, but this court has never attributed an overbreadth role to parliament in such matters beyond the parameters of the particular matter in regard to which such parliamentary approval is required. See Attorney-General v Faroe Atlantic Co. Ltd. (2005-2006) SC GLR 271, Amidu (No. 2) v A-G, Isofoton S A & Forson (No. 1) [2013-2014] 1 SCGLR 167, Klomega (No. 2) v A-G & Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority & Ors. (2013-2014) 1 SCGLR 581.

It must be emphasized that when parliamentary approval is given under article 268(1) the agreement in question remains an executive act and not the act of the legislature.”Atuguba JSC concurring opinion in the case of John Ndebugre v Attorney General&Aksa Energy.

From the above Supreme Court decision,Parliament has no business to look into the Agreement again.

As the respected Supreme Court Justice,Atuguba admonished in the case cited supra,
” Any undue interference with the operation of the contract will damage the commercial image of the government to the detriment of the public interest.”

That is to say any undue interference will DAMAGE the commercial image of the government.
Clearly,Parliament is acting unconstitutional in this needless and reckless interference with the Agreement and will have no legal effect on the Agreement.

It is important that Government of Ghana stop hiding behind Parliament for mischief.

It is not good for the image of the country.

It is curious to note that Government of Ghana has stopped paying Ameri contrary to the terms of the Agreement.

This is clearly contrary to the expressed terms of the Agreement and law.

Government of Ghana is setting itself up for serious damages should Ameri proceed to International Arbitration.

Interestingly enough,Government of Ghana is not alleging any breach of statutes or the Constitution.

Purely on unfounded allegations of fraud or corruption?The proof is on Government of Ghana and it is proof beyond reasonable doubt.

Political games fuel by perception can not stand any legal scrutiny based on strict proof.

It is even dead on arrival.

I am worried for the Energy Minister,Boakye Agyarko, who took that reckless decision to suspend payment to Ameri without seeking any legal opinion from the Attorney General.

Should Government of Ghana be made to pay damages from his reckless conduct,he must be made to pay it personally or be charged for causing financial loss to the State.

Do you know that after suspending the payment, Government now writes to the Attorney General for legal opinion on the suspension.

The Legal opinion from the Attorney General Department should be worrying to Boakye Agyarko,any administration can you it to prosecute him for causing financial loss to the State.

He took the decision before seeking legal opinion.

The State started incurring liabilities from that time of the suspension.
Interestingly enough,the Attorney General legal opinion is to the effect that the suspension is without legal basis.

In fact,the legal opinion further stated that by failing to pay Ameri,Government of Ghana has breached the Agreement.

Once,the Attorney General has stated that Government of Ghana has breached the Agreement,Ameri can simply move the equipment to another country and sue the Government of Ghana for damages.

Would Boakye Agyarko pay for the damages?No,the taxpayers money,as we say in Ghana.

Who is really advising Government officials?

I pray that any future administration examine this.

Government officials think they can operate with emotions and feelings.
As a State official,always ask,by what authority,am I acting?It will save you future troubles.

As at October,2017,Government of Ghana had no evidence of corruption or fraud against Ameri meanwhile,it has taken a decision to suspend payment to it.

Government is now fishing for the fraud or corruption. It is terrible commentary on our emotional democracy.

The fraud should have existed before the transaction and not after.
Complete afterthought.

I have seen officials under the current administration going abroad looking for investors.
At the same time,they are recklessly abusing the rights reserved under legitimately signed agreements.

On one front Government of Ghana harassing investors from Middle East and at the same time going back to them begging for more investment in their country what kind of hypocrisy is that?

The President of Imani Ghana,a respected think tank, Franklin Cudjoe rightly observed on Citifm current affairs political show,

“The best way to deal with the Ameri contract is to sit with the Ameri company and ask for reduction. The Ameri contract is so water tight that you will end up losing if you attempt going to court.”

My Lecturer at the Faculty of Law,University of Ghana,during our International Investment Law class,would always say that,international investment must always be protected against political interference.

Political interference has the potential of destroying not only the reputation of the government of the day but the image of the country.

That explains the existence of Bilateral Investment Treaties.

Now this is where I have a problem with the double standards of this administration.

As late as December,2017 under the Presidency of Nana Addo H.E,JP Morgan Chase wanted to know whether to extend the standby LC made in respect of the transaction.

Bank of Ghana responded to JP Morgan Chase to go ahead and confirm the standby LC which was done on the 2nd January,2018.

In fact,Bank of Ghana in December, 2017 okayed the Ameri transaction.

So as I write this article,the standby has been extended.

The danger is that Ameri can start drawing the standby LC because Government of Ghana has defaulted in paying them.

The greatest risk is now Ghana.

The commercial image of Ghana is going down because going forward,every foreign investor will require a guaranteed LC because another Government will try to interfere with their investments.

It increases the cost of doing business by the country.Our commercial image as a country will have no currency.

The conduct of this administration is not helpful.

I have seen how Yoofi Grant is trying hard to get investment into Ghana but where is the assurance that tomorrow,another government won’t act in this reckless manner.

We must guard against it.

Curiously,the Vice President,Dr Bawumia is billed to travel to Gulf states in March looking for foreign investment into our energy,health,railway and education sectors.

At the time,you your administration is playing dirty political games with Ameri?

What is the principle here?

If I was not done by me,it is evil and bad.

What is the assurance that another administration based on your conduct not deal in the same manner,you are dealing with Ameri?

We must always resolve to respect the SANCTITY OF ALL CONTRACTS devoid of political gamesmanship.

It is not good for the forward march of Ghana.
But for the power from the Ameri plants,Ghana will still be in dumsor.

God bless our homeland Ghana

–

By: Godwin Tamakloe (Private legal practitioner)

The post Stop playing politics with foreign investors [Opinion] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A number of areas, especially within the capital city Accra, suffered a blackout in the early hours of Monday, January 29, 2018.

GRIDCo clarified that the blackout was caused by an interference in their transmission network after many affected Ghanaians complained to Citi News over the issue.

“Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) wishes to inform the general public of a disturbance on its transmission network resulting in the loss of electricity supply to consumers in some parts of the country,” GRIDCo stated in a statement signed by its head of Public Relations, Albert Kwesi Quainoo.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had earlier denied responsibility for the outages blaming it entirely on GRIDCo.

Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of ECG, William Boateng said: “The problem is not from ECG, it’s from our transmission company in Ghana here, GRIDCo. GRIDCo is having some challenges.”

Meanwhile, GRIDCo in the statement said its technicians are working round the clock to restore power to the affected areas.

“GRIDCo is working to restore supply to consumers,” the statement added.

GRIDCo faults result in mass blackouts
Technical challenges confronting the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) resulted in widespread blackouts in GRIDCo-served regions in July 2017.

Power was however restored a few hours later.

A similar power outage was also recorded on May 3, 2017 as a result of a surge of power leading to the loss of a number of GRIDCo generators across the country and the subsequent loss of power.

It took over 12 hours to fully restore power that time.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Monday’s ‘dumsor’ caused by transmission disturbance – GRIDCo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Almost the entire Tamale Metropolis was plunged into total darkness on Monday, November 20,2017,  following an inferno that gutted a portion of the substation at Choggu Hilltop.

The Management of VRA/NEDco on Friday, November 24, 2017, fully restored power to the Tamale Metropolis.

The VRA/NEDco Manager in charge of Corporate Communications, Maxwell Kotoka, in a statement copied citifmonline.com, stated that, “It would be recalled that in the evening of Monday, November 20, 2017, fire razed critical equipment through which nearly all domestic and commercial consumers, were being served electric power in the metropolis, thereby plunging nearly the entire township into darkness.”

“Since then, the Management and Staff of NEDCo, working with tremendous support and cooperation from GRIDCo, the Hon Minister of Energy, the Hon. Northern Regional Minister, The Hon. Minister for Roads and Highways, The Ghana Police Service, The Department of Roads and Highways, Various local contractors, the Media and of course, the Chiefs and good people of Tamale have succeeded in restoring power to all the affected consumers.”

“It must however be re-iterated that, all the restorations so far are temporary ones, whilst we take steps to fully investigate the cause of the fire with the view to avoiding a future recurrence, and to replace the burnt equipment. This will take some reasonable time so we would have to make do with the temporary arrangements for a while.”

Maxwell Kotoka reaffirmed management’s commitment to permanently fix the problem as Christmas approaches.

“We assure the public that as usual, we shall continue to do our best in rising to the challenges that may come up. In this regard, we still urge the public to continue to be patient, tolerant and cooperative.”

“Meanwhile, the fenced space at the frontage of the GRIDCo Sub-station, off the Choggu-Water Works Road, has been converted into the distribution hub centre for Tamale, so it has been designated a security zone where entry and/or loitering is strictly prohibited. The General Public is accordingly advised not to trespass for their own interest and safety.”

He appreciated the tremendous efforts of individuals and institutions that supported VRA/NEDco during the difficult times saying, “We wish to deeply acknowledge and tremendously thank all who have supported us in diverse ways for their respective roles without which the stop-gap works could not have been done in such a record time. We hope to be able to continue to count on you in these trying times and beyond.”

–

By: Abdul Karm Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post VRA/NEDco finally restores power in Tamale Metropolis        appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

There was a total blackout in the Metropolis following an inferno that gutted 11 panels of the VRA/NEDco substation at Choggu Hilltop.

[contextly_sidebar id=”X5AmG93HzIpNHQPXjscpxuNE2Za3iS2R”]The VRA/NEDco Communications Director, Maxwell Kotoka at a media briefing on Tuesday, said apart from critical installations including the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the Tamale Airport and the Tamale Teaching Hospital, there is power interruption in the entire Metropolis.

According to him, management considers limited load management as an option because there are no definite timelines to fixing the problem.

“Among others, management has decided to loop some feeders that are close to the currently running lines to the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana Water Company and the Tamale Airport.”

“If it becomes necessary and we find it practicable, we may have to resort to some limited load management. If that would happen, we would not hesitate to share with you the structure or schedule with which it would be run.”

Maxwell Kotoka said the 11 breakers serving the Tamale Township on the 11 kv, were burnt to ashes for which VRA/NEDco will be unable to serve the whole of the Tamale Metropolis particularly domestic consumers.

“In all this, we would want to urge restraint and a careful management of expectations, and we assure the general public to understand us and cooperate with us in these difficult times.”

“A number of breakers are being brought in from Techiman and Wenchi to be used as provisional routes of supply to other areas especially around the centre of town. As alluded to earlier, it is not possible for all affected customers to have power restored to them at the same time. Similarly, some customers may have to suffer some load management experiences, whilst some may not be able to benefit from the short-term remedies at all.”

“We wish to put to it on record that we are leaving no stone unturned to restore power as soon as practicable.”

Maxwell Kotoka apologized to the affected customers for the inconvenience caused.

“It is our humble appeal to the general public to be patient and exercise maximum restraint, whilst we continue to do our utmost best to restore power to all.”

He commended the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Police Service, and all well-wishers supporting the VRA-NEDco during these difficult times.

Meanwhile, some dissatisfied customers of the VRA-NEDco are livid over the explanations given.

Some of them in a Citi News interview expressed worry about perishable food products stored in deep freezers coupled with the warm climatic condition.

They implored the VRA-NEDco to immediately fix the problem.

–

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post VRA/NEDco to ration power in Tamale due to faulty panels appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“It’s important for trust in government and important for trust in politicians because they should be seen to be people of their word. You come and make a promise but when you get into office, you find all kinds of reasons to say I can’t do it; it’s not good for government,” the President said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”rU4RcvNk2XyECKwc66Z30EfY89jWksNM”]“We committed [ourselves] and all the commitments that we’ve made, gradually and systematically, we are beginning to realise them. They are things we thought about, long and deep in opposition and we believe that they were the way to putting our country on the way to progress and prosperity.”

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, on Wednesday, outlined the investments made by the government in various sectors, including in education, health, agriculture and energy.

He announced tax reliefs for private universities and young entrepreneurs and added that the government was well on course to meeting its macroeconomic targets for the year.

He also stated that the government had revised the tariff-setting methodology and the cost structure for power production and would submit a recommendation to the PURC for an average reduction of between 13 and 21 percent in electricity tariffs for residential and industrial consumers.

The President, who is currently on a three-day official visit to Qatar, also expressed satisfaction with the work done by his administration in the energy sector, stating that the power challenges that had plagued the country in the last five years have stabilised under his government’s watch.

“We’re beginning to forget that there was a time where we had dumsor. Thank God, the situation is now stabilised and in this year’s budget, Ofori-Atta has just announced that we are making proposals to the PURC to bring down electricity tariffs and rates to be able to stimulate industrial development,” he said.

“The government is putting, before the PURC, a set of proposals, leading to a reduction in the electricity rate. For industrial consumers that can go to as high as a 25% reduction and for households, between 12 and 13%.”

‘Ken Ofori-Atta is a magician’

The President heaped praise on Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta for his efforts in ensuring that key government projects were financed, something which had been a major issue for critics.

Ofori Atta himself had earlier described the achievements chalked by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, just months into their 4-year tenure as miraculous, given how little the previous administration had left in the nation’s coffers.

His sentiments were echoed by Nana Akufo-Addo who described the Finance Minister as “a magician” for finding sources of funding in spite of the tough economic situation the country found itself in when they came into office.

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Trust us, we’re delivering on our promises – Nana Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, stated that the government had promised to end ‘dumsor’ and had delivered, while presenting government’s budget and policy statement for 2018 in Parliament on Wednesday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”X1blbiXGQNnNCXKKZzlmyTQHHWDHsQfg”]This claim was widely criticized by members of the Minority who argued that the investments in the sector made under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration had stabilized the power situation well before the NPP came into office.

However, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, speaking on the Point Blank segment of Eyewitness News, stated that the previous government’s focus on increasing production capacity in the sector, though commendable, was not the primary reason for the end to the power crisis.

“I’ve not said that we give no credit to the previous administration for anything they did. What I’ve said is that, a lot of the gains we’ve chalked are principally because of the works we’ve done. Throughout the campaign of 2015 and 2016, we always said that the energy crisis was a financial crisis. We believed that there was enough production capacity to meet our needs. The reason for which some of those plants were not producing and meeting our needs were because there were debts owed them, there were crude oil financing needs that money was not being made available to finance. Our challenge wasn’t about having enough power plants but about having a viable financial solution to ensure that the plants we had were fired,” he said.

According to him, the problems in the sector were purely financial, which the new government had shown commitment to addressing since they took over, in terms of appointments and resource allocation.

“When Nana Akufo Addo named 110 Ministers, he was lambasted, but he has a deputy Minister responsible for financing the energy sector. His job is to ensure the regular stream of financing to ensure that our power plants were firing and giving us enough and excess because if you did the numbers at the time, we had enough capacity. It is our claim that pursuant to that strategy and making sure that the plants are liquid, that’s where we are today.”

‘We ended dumsor’

The Minority challenged a number of the statements made by Ken Ofori-Atta in Parliament, even raising cards with ‘419’ budget printed on them.

However,  his claim that the current administration had ended dumsor, earned the loudest jeers from the opposition.

The Minority Chief whip,  Mubarak Muntaka,  stated after the presentation of the budget in an interview with Citi News that “the most shocking and the most insincere comment of the Finance Minister was when he said they had ended dumsor.”

The Asawase legislator believes that contrary to Mr. Ofori Atta’s claims, the frequent power outages came to an end under the NDC’s tenure.

“You and I were in this country. Long before they came, Dumsor had ended. If you remember by January, February of 2016, there was no dumsor. All the things that he said they had added, just check. All the 445 megawatts that he is talking about adding, just check, when it was done.”

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Our efforts ended ‘dumsor’ – Oppong Nkrumah insists appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

John Jinapor, former Deputy Power minister has questioned the President’s claims that in 2014 alone, the country lost about GHc 600 million in economic activities under the then Mahama government.

At the National Policy Summit on August 14, 2017, President Akufo-Addo stated that Ghana lost about $3 billion in economic activities during power crisis that overwhelmed the nation under the Mahama government.

[contextly_sidebar id=”QZ0SXFpY0rVvUOTDhFp4EeQTUEcZECVn”]Nana Akufo-Addo added that Ghana lost about GHc 618 million in economic activities in 2014 alone which is equivalent to two percent of GDP.  He quoted these statistics from the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research.

John Jinapor, in an interview with Citi News, labelled as erroneous the calculations made by the President about the effects of  “Dumsor” under the NDC.

The former deputy Minister recalled that when he was a deputy minister in 2013/2014, “by the end of 2015, we had resolved the deficit. In the whole of the year 2016, we never had any load shedding programme because we had enough capacity beyond our demand.”

He continued that, “if we had any outage, it was a localized outage and so it couldn’t have been that in the four years of President Mahama, we had load shedding throughout.”

“If you do the arithmetic, the President claims that in 2014 alone, we lost about GHc 600 million. If you multiply GHc 600 million by 4, you will certainly not get $3 billion and so we would like to interrogate that information and subject it to critical scrutiny,” Mr. Jinapor added.

“The most important thing is that, by the time we left office, we had closed deficit and even with the low levels of the Akosombo dam, we had enough thermal complementation in order to ensure that we had adequate supply of power.”

Ghanaian business bore the brunt of the power crisis, which peaked intensified in a stretch from 2012 to 2016.

At the time, the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) lamented that the load shedding exercises their led to some companies laying off their workers.

In 2015, a report issued by (ISSER) Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, Ghana loses about $2.2 million daily and $686.4 million annually due to the power crisis.

By: Rita Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mahama gov’t didn’t lose $3bn to dumsor – John Jinapor appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Akufo-Addo who quoted figures from the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) said the country lost about GHc618 million in economic activity in 2014 alone which he said is “equivalent to 2 percent of GDP.”

“Thus the four years of dumsor cumulatively led to a loss of more than $3 billion in economic activity and in the process thousands of Ghanaians lost their jobs,” he said at the second National Policy Summit on Trade and Industry held in Accra on Monday.

He also said the Ghanaian industrial sector was drastically suffered within the period.

“Regrettably the industrial sector has suffered one of the most significant setbacks in our history over the past few years. In 2014 for example, industry which in 2008, the last year of the government John Agyekum Kufuor, former president of the Republic had grown to 15.1 percent slumped to 0.8 percent in 2015 to -0.3 percent and further down to -1.4 percent in 2016. In 2015, manufacturing recorded a negative growth of 0.3 percent.”

He lamented that “a signification number of small, medium and large scale operators were all brought to their knees as a result of four years of dumsor induced by the mismanagement of the energy sector.”

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Ghana lost $3bn under Mahama over dumsor –Akufo-Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.