Mr. Agyapong, despite being relieved of his position two years ago has made appearances at many of the public events of the party since then.

At the Heroes Park near the Baba Yara Sports Stadium where the NPP’s extraordinary delegates conference was held, Kwabena Agyapong was once again spotted, this time in a white Jalabiyyah with a Keffiyeh to match.

He sat in the midst of the thousands of party faithful and delegates who had travelled from different parts of the country and from the party’s international chapters as well, to participate in the conference.

It is unclear whether Mr. Agyapong was at the conference at the invitation of the party.

The former executive of the party was suspended in December 2015 for publicly rebelling against the party’s decision to indefinitely suspend the national chairman, Paul Afoko.

He was suspended alongside the party’s Second Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe.

The National Executive Committee of the party found him guilty of violating Article 3(D) of the party’s constitution which enjoins members to publicly uphold the decisions of the party, through various acts.

He was also accused of engaging in “unilateral actions and activities without consultation of, or authorization by the NEC [National Executive Council].”

Plea for reinstatement

There have been renewed calls for the reinstatement of Kwabena Agyapong.

Some NPP members in the Volta Region at a recent press conference called on the party hierarchy to restore him in the party. They argued that he was an indispensable asset to the New Patriotic Party (NPP), whose relegation affected the general welfare of the party.

A group of NPP constituency and polling station executives, in a petition to the party, also said Mr. Agyapong’s conduct towards the party even after his indefinite suspension showed his unwavering loyalty, which must be commended.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This is regardless of a number of groups making appeals in the media for the NPP hierarchy to forgive him.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0jQFqxlwBjBugUqB7M2QpGD1nuDIJJpL”]The NPP suspended its 2nd Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe, alongside Mr. Agyapong in 2015, after they were accused of publicly rebelling against the party’s decision to indefinitely suspend its National Chairman, Paul Afoko.

Mr. Afoko and Mr. Crabbe, subsequently filed a suit over their suspension, but both suits were thrown out by the court.

Speaking to Citi News, the acting National Chairman of the NPP, Freddy Blay, said the NPP had no intention of reversing, what he called, justified suspensions.

“Nothing has come before us. The National Executive Council took the decision. The National Council endorsed it. Nothing has been done about it… they were suspended indefinitely for some good reasons and nobody has thought it proper that this matter should be raised again.”

Mr. Blay further defended the party’s suspension as being the right move as it had no effect on the NPP’s election fortunes.

“There were people who were agitating that since they [Kwabena Agyapong, Sammy Crabbe and Paul Afoko] had been suspended, we were going to totally lose the election, particularly NDC or sympathetic media that support the NDC. They have been put to shame. We won.”

Reasons for Kwabena Agyepong suspension

A) Violation of Article 3(D) of the NPP constitution which enjoins members to publicly uphold the decisions of the party, through various acts including;

i. His disregard for NEC decision on 23rd October, 2015, suspending Mr. Paul Afoko.

ii. Various Public statements he made that cast the Party in bad light.

B) He engaged in unilateral actions and activities without consultation of, or authorization by the NEC, such as;

i. Writing to the Electoral Commission designating only himself and suspended Chairman Afoko as the only authorized signatories.

ii. Granting waivers to parliamentary aspirants

iii. Non-reference of legal matters to the proper legal Committee of the Party

iv. Interference with Constituency primaries against National Appeal Committee decisions and also, Court decisions.

v. Misrepresentation/misleading of NEC on status of some constituency primaries

vi. He, in conjunction with suspended Chairman Afoko and Sammy Crabbe, launched Party cards without authorizations from NEC.

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By: King Nobert Akpabli & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’ve not received any petition for Agyapong’s reinstatement – Blay appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The petitioners contend that, Mr. Agyei Agyapong’s conduct towards the party even after his indefinite suspension in 2015, manifests an unwavering loyalty, which must be commended.

[contextly_sidebar id=”N41GNykil5FuEQ6P3UzEZ3p5cYr2n7nG”]The NPP suspended its 2nd Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe, alongside Mr. Agyapong in 2015, after they were accused of publicly rebelling against the party’s decision to indefinitely suspend its National Chairman, Paul Afoko.

Mr. Afoko and Mr. Crabbe, subsequently filed a suit over their suspension, but both suits were thrown out by the court.

Unlike the two, Mr. Agyepong, did not seek a legal action.

Despite the suspension, Mr. Agyapong has been sighted several times at NPP gatherings, most recently at the party’s national delegates conference in Cape Coast in the Central Region in August.

These constituency polling station executives also say the suspended General Secretary remains a resource to the party.

“Regardless of his suspension, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, avails himself for party activities and even attended the party’s conference at cape coast. In our opinion, the party supporters and stalwarts’ warm reaction at the conference to Mr. Agyepong, is a clear indication that we have healed our wounds after the party’s sweet victory last year which he played a part in,” their petition said.

The acting National Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay, is likely to disagree with them as he has said in the past that it will not be advisable to reinstate suspended executives of the party, who in his view, did not contribute to the party’s victory in the 2016 general elections.

Find below the full petition 

APPEAL TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL TO REINSTATE KWABENA AGYEI AGYEPONG AS THE ELECTED GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY

———————————————————————————————————————————————

We the undersigned members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Brong Ahafo Region wish to add our voices to the numerous appeals made to the National Council (NC) of the great elephant party NPP, to reconsider reinstating the elected General Secretary to his position.

As it is known to the rank and file of our dear party and the general public, the National Executive Committee of the party upon by the Disciplinary Committee’s recommendation, suspended Mr. Kwabena Agyei AGYEPONG on the 10th of December,2015.

We humbly state the following reasons for our call for the reinstatement:

Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong’s conduct after his suspension has met the commendation of members our party including those who petitioned the Disciplinary Committee for his suspension.

It is also a public knowledge that Mr.Kwabena Agyei Agyepong supported several distressed constituencies across the country notably the Brong Ahafo, Upper West, Upper East, Northern Region and Ashanti Region in the lead up to the 2016 general elections. Even though he was suspended, his commitment to the party’s electoral victory  was commendable. This puts no doubts on his commitment and loyalty to our party.

Regardless of his suspension, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, avail himself for party activities and even attended the party’s conference at cape coast. In our opinion, Mr Agyepong embrace by party supporters and stalwarts at the conference, is a clear indication that we have healed our wounds after the party’s sweet victory last year which he played part. On this note

We the Brong Ahafo members of the new patriotic party mostly constituency and polling station executives therefore wish to appeal to the National Council to let the Tamale votes count by reinstating Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong to his position as the elected General Secretary of the party.

We hope our appeal would meet your favorable response.

Respectively Submitted.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Emmanuel Opoku Marfo

055656580

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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Time to forgive Kwabena Agyapong – B/A NPP members beg appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Head of the IFC’s Africa Special Initiative for Infrastructure, Richard Arkutu,  told Citi News the MoU will allow the Corporation to collaborate with the VRA and identify international developers that will help it [VRA] achieve the government’s planned installed capacity target of 5,000 megawatts by 2016.

“We will help VRA identify and shortlist the projects they want to embark on and help them with the feasibility study work.” he explained.

[contextly_sidebar id=”04uF5jPvPEH23ijqDAXFI0krqgvVbOcv”]Mr. Arkutu was optimistic that the set target would be reached and added that the IFC would assist the VRA in partnering with companies that have the “expertise to contribute to the development of those projects and help to structure the financing packages that will be needed to get those projects built.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the VRA, Kirk Koffi, expressed his delight at the partnership and told Citi News the “added [energy] generation” would be a good thing for Ghana’s growing economy.

“Ghana is growing very fast, which is a good thing for us.We should be able to move forward to realize the government’s agenda of 5,000 megawatts within the shortest possible time,” he added.

Fears that the country’s energy problems might worsen have risen in recent times after the VRA announced that there had been a reduction in the water level of the Akosombo dam.

However, the completion of the Atuabo Gas Project and  the IFC’s Partnership with the VRA might reduce the pressure on the Akosombo Dam  in dealing with the country’s current energy challenges.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post IFC-VRA to set up power plants in Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This coupled with maintenance works on the country’s power plants , low levels of water in the Akosombo and Bui dams have compounded the power generation challenge in the country.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) earlier said it had intensified its load shedding exercise in the southern part of the country.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the ECG William Boateng, some 200 megawatts of power was shed on August 28, the highest in awhile following power generation challenges.

Speaking to Citi Business News the Communications Consultant to the Energy Ministry, Edward Bawa said the load shedding situation started some two weeks ago.

“we have a curtailment of gas supplies from Nigeria because the pipeline has been destroyed at one point “, he stressed.

Hydro power constitutes about 50 % of Ghana’s power generation mix and the water levels in Akosombo and Bui are very low .” the managers of these two reservoirs will have to ensure that they mange the water levels over a period of time in order to sustain the supply of power”, Edward Bawa stated.

By:  Rabiu Alhassan/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Damaged Nigerian gas pipeline pushes Ghana into load shedding mode appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Fred Asamany, believes that the lack of vision in the leadership of this country is the primary reason for the mediocre state of the electricity and all stakeholders must get together to work on the deficit.

“Energy in all its forms is the engine of growth in any economy and all our past and present leaders, with the exception of Kwame Nkrumah, have tinkered with this issue without any clear cut initiatives from our leaders to solve this problem.”

According to him, Ghana needs about 12500 megawatts of electricity to industrialize. However, the country has only 2884 installed capacity with the current production around 1313 megawatts.

“As at 28^th July 2014 the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2844 MW however the available capacity is only 1313 MW yet we require 12,500 MW to industrialize.”

Ghana requires 500 watts/capita to take a significant step towards industrialization, equivalent to 12500 MW  (population of 25million x 500 watts).

Currently the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2844MW.  The deficit for industrialised status is therefore approximately 9700 MW. Generation infrastructure is approximately $1.5m per MW. Ghana therefore needs to invest $14.5bn to come up to speed.

On the management of the electricity sector, he says “as long as VRA/ECG/GRIDCO are run as purely civil service organizations, we cannot expect anything better from their financial operations. We must introduce private sector management attitudes into their operations.”

Click here to read a full analysis of Ghana’s power sector.

By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana must increase power per capita to industrialize – Expert appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ghana Power Compact invests up to $498.2 million to support the transformation of Ghana’s electricity sector and stimulate private investment. The five-year compact is designed to create a self-sustaining energy sector in Ghana by reforming laws and regulations needed to transform the country’s power sector and catalyze more than $4 billion in private energy investment and activity from American and global energy firms in the coming years.

The MCC will make an initial investment of up to $308.2 million, including funding to put the Electricity Company of Ghana, the country’s main distribution company, on a sustainable path, help the utility meet current electricity needs and upgrade infrastructure to reduce outages and improve service. A second tranche of up to $190 million in funds will be made available if Ghana accomplishes a set of reform targets set forth in the compact.

Even though this is welcome news, some players in the industry believe beyond the MCC, Ghana needs to do a lot more to secure the energy sector in the long term.

Currently, only about 1313 megawatts of electricity is produced by the various plants, which collectively have an installed capacity of 2884 megawatts.

Click here to read more about Ghana’s power sector

The Atuabo Gas Project is expected to provide lean gas to generate about 550 megawatts of power, and provide 75% of the natural Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) needs.

Ghana currently has an energy production target of 5000 megawatts by 2015. However, for the nation to industrialize, the energy per capita has to be increased to 500 watts per capita from the paltry 53watts per capita. This means that the nations strategic production target must be around 12500 megawatts, a target that requires billions of dollars to achieve.

The questions, therefore, are:

1. Are Ghanaians being told the actual state of the energy sector?

2. To what extent would the current the plans being executed mitigate the problems?

3. What is the way forward?

Fred Asamany, a leading power plant developer in Ghana, believes that power  is the most important factor in Ghana’s development.

According to him, “if you look at the economic history of industrialized countries, it is palpably obvious that the underlying driver of economic activity is power.”

He shared his perspectives on the Citi Breakfast Show Thursday August 7.

Below are his perspectives on Ghana’s power sector, in a question and answer format.

WHAT IN YOUR VIEW ARE THE MAJOR CONSTRAINTS TO POWER AVAILABILITY, RELIABILITY AND STABILITY?

Lack of vision in the leadership of this country is the primary reason for the mediocre state of the electricity sub-sector.

Energy in all its forms is the engine of growth in any economy and all our past and present leaders, with the exception of Kwame Nkrumah, have tinkered with this issue without any clear cut initiatives from our leaders to solve this problem.

Perennial under-investment
The lack of an implementable master electricity sector blue print backed by a credible investment plan over the years has resulted in weak and out-dated main systems, sub-systems and processes that should otherwise guarantee a high degree of system reliability and stability.

Lack of an entrepreneurial culture
The public utilities in the power sector such as VRA and ECG run purely as civil service organizations. These organisations have hoards of talented people who are well educated but are not challenged to drive businesses as entrepreneurs would. Accountability is weak and status matters a lot and there are very little productivity or incentives targets set for the civil servant who will of course be paid regardless of performance. Lack of performance does not result in any sanctions because by and large you are employed to serve your term.

Availability inadequacies
Availability relates to the actual MWe (megawatt energy) that can be generated and made available for distribution to consumers at any point in time…It is different from the capacity of generation that is installed…As at 28th July 2014 the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2844 MW however the Available Capacity is only 1313 MW yet we require 12,500 MW to industrialise.

Reliability characteristics
The System is controlled to stay within acceptable limits during normal conditions;
The System performs acceptably after credible Contingencies;
The System limits the impact and scope of instability and cascading outages

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CURRENT ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN VRA/GRIDCO & ECG?

As long as VRA/ECG/GRIDCO are run as purely civil service organizations, we cannot expect anything better from their financial operations. We must introduce private sector management attitudes into their operations.

The unbundling or disaggregation of transmission (GRIDCO) and distribution (ECG) from VRA was a very good idea. However the businesses are closely interdependent on each other for successful operations and quality of service…ECG relies on VRA and a small number of IPP’s for its generation. Without adequate generation ECG cannot physically supply all the electrical power needs of its customers..Currently there is not enough available generation capacity to meet the load requirements of ECG….Its a complex matrix of issues.

CONCERNS HAVE BEEN EXPRESSED ABOUT THE PSP CONDITION IN THE MILLENNIUM COMPACT AGREEMENT; WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON PRIVATE PARTICIPATION IN THE POWER SECTOR? WHICH ASPECTS OF THE POWER SECTOR COULD BENEFIT FROM A PSP?

The passionate argument should be about establishing exceptional levels of uninterruptible service delivery of electricity to customers.

The Private Sector already works with ECG and the power sector throughout the value chain and the sector should capitalise on best practices and standards that can be imported from Private Sector Participation to achieve the desired levels of service required.

The injection of an entrepreneurial culture and commercial imperatives in the power sector is a sine qua non and can only be achieved by introducing some elements of organizational systems, culture, reward systems, processes and technologies that are more prevalent in the private sector. In this respect the 100% shareholder, GoG, should reduce its influence in the policy and decision making of these organizations whilst retaining a significant minority interest.

Private Sector Participation could support the following areas:

Establishment of a Credible Wholesale Offtaker
Creation of Power Park Infrastructure
Provision of Securities and Guarantees Backstop

Distribution
Distribution Franchises
Sub-Station Infrastructure
Long Term Service Agreements (Management and Technology)
SCADA Systems
Metering and Revenue Collection
Prepayment Systems

Transmission
Pre-financing of Substation Upgrading and Expansion
SCADA Systems and New Technological Upgrades
Long Term Service Agreement
Capital Spare Parts

Generation
Public Private Power Projects
Development of Power Parks
Operations and Maintenance
Long Term Service Agreement
Capital Spare Parts
Repair Centres
Gas to Power Infrastructure

HOW MUCH POWER DOES GHANA NEED TO INDUSTRIALIZE AND HOW CAN WE ATTAIN THAT POWER GENERATION LEVEL?

Ghana requires 500 watts/capita to take a significant step towards industrialization, equivalent to 12,500 MW (population of 25m X 500 watts).

Currently the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2,844MW. The deficit for industrialised status is therefore 9,700 MW approx…Generation infrastructure is approximately $1.5m per MW therefore we need to invest $14.5bn to come up to speed. This is the scale of the challenge.

The solution for that level of generation required for industrialization is a systematic 200 year plan that is defined in a generation blue print that all governments will adhere here. This blue print must be driven from the Office of the President and not the bureaucratic Ministry of Energy.

GoG infrastructure fund, SSNIT and Industry must provide the seed funding to plant the required generation assets annually through building a minimum of 1000MW industrial power park complexes sponsored by GoG at a time. On completion the assets can be offloaded to private investors or through the equity stock markets.

GoG then gets its cash investment for the next round of planting. This is implementable and must be led by local content and not external agencies and will guarantee that the assets are put on the ground..The traditional route of project finance frameworks for investing in the power generation sector results in almost 10 years on average to build one power plant.

Global Comparisons of Industrialised Countries (Country Watts/capita)
USA – 3,170
Europe – 1,700
Malaysia – 813
South Africa – 900
Ghana – 53

HOW CAN GHANA GAIN MAXIMUM BENEFIT FROM THE MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE PROGRAM?

The MCC program will not result in a dramatic transformation of the sector that Ghana requires. Millennium challenge may give the sector a head start but is not sustainable unless it is back loaded by a credible programme of activities and investments when the MCC is over, that fits into a master blue print for the electricity sector created by Ghana for Ghana.

The millennium challenge program must allow the electric power industry to build on Local content capacity to manage all aspects of power generation, transmission, distribution and O&M. Locals investors must understand this industry and invest in it.

Throughout history there is no country in this world that has been developed to industrialized status by another country. We must do it ourselves!!!

By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana’s power sector, perspectives of an expert appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The plant was shut down for regular maintenance works which worsened the energy situation in the country.

The 220 megawatts power plant was until recently producing only 110 megawatts; a situation which was largely responsible for the on-going load shedding exercise.

Speaking in an interview with Citi News, Sam Fletcher, the Public Relations Officer of the Volta River Authority(VRA) was optimistic the energy situation will be given a huge boost now that the country has the full complement of TICO.

He explained that “a 110 megawatts of electricity is quite a lot and it can power a whole nation so it will reduce the impact of the load shedding we are having because we have been shedding anything between  250 and 300 megawatts every day because of the deficit we had.”

Mr. Fletcher stressed that the completion of the repair works on the plant “will make a huge impact on the system and with 110 coming on board, it means you are gradually eroding the deficits.”

Asked whether the load shedding will be minimized with the addition, Mr Fletcher was emphatic that Ghanaians will enjoy more power now that the works on the plant is completed.

“Ghanaians should expect more power, because if people were going off for about 12 hours depending on the planning of the ECG [Electricity Company of Ghana],  they will be going off now for about 6 or 3 hours. I think the bottom line is that it will improve the situation and the impact of the load shedding will be minimized,” he posited.

By: Raymond Acquah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghanaians to enjoy more power – VRA assures appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

They were arrested during a massive illegal disconnection exercise carried in the Tamale metropolis.

Majority of them have been compelled to pay for the power consumed whiles others are to be processed before the law court.

Head of Public and Community Relations of VRA/NEDco, Alhaji Mohammed Siam in a Citi News interview said the perpetrators will face the full rigors of the law.

He exposed the modus operandi of the power thieves saying, “People want to reap what they have not shown; you go to places they have air conditioners and they bypass the load.”

He continued saying, “Initially they were bypassing the prepaid meters with what they call Utouch; they drill holes through the walls and then do the bypassing and it takes vigilance to discover it.”

He cautioned traditional and opinion leaders in the Tamale Metropolis against any interference in the task forces’ operation.

A task force has been set up by the Northern Electricity Department of the Volta River Authority to minimize or eradicate the financial losses caused by the power thieves.

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post VRA/NED arrests 443 power thieves in Tamale appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This has allayed the fears of soccer fans in Tamale of some of who planned to use car batteries to watch the matches in case of any eventuality.

Head of Public and Community Relations of VRA/NEDco, Alhaji Mohammed Siam in a Citi News interview said there wouldn’t be power fluctuations throughout the soccer fiesta.

He said, “Over here I must assure you and you can find out that in our operations if there is any fault our men will stay and work till the fault is rectified; rarely do we push any fault to the following day unless it is a major fault.”

According to Alhaji Siam all technical staff on leave have been called back to be on standby to make sure that every problem is resolved before the World Cup begun.

Stockpiling their hopes on Ghana’s four nil against South Korea in a friendly match, some of the enthusiastic soccer fans anticipated that Ghana will elevate the Star of Africa by lifting the trophy.

Some Television repairers in the Tamale Metropolis including Musah Alhassan whose shop is by the Tamale Central Mosque took advantage of the upcoming World Cup to cash in ahead of the opening ceremony of the World Cup.

Some soccer fans whose television sets have slight problems rushed for immediate repairs.

It is the hope and prayer of every patriotic Ghanaian that the Black Stars will lift the trophy to brighten Ghana’s much touted accolade as the gateway to Africa.

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post No power interruption in Tamale VRA/NEDco assures appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.