Addressing the media today [Tuesday], Chairman of the Senior Staff of VRA, Cephas Duse said the current challenges faced by the state power producer is as a result of bad deals with independent power producers, which has been allowed by successive governments.

[contextly_sidebar id=”DiXoqbfHldQGnOnX4I51tiEEw0qEXTm3″]”For example, we buy power from AMERI at 15 cents and we sell to ECG at 5 cents,” he noted, adding that this is done in the interest of the nation because the government says they cannot sell the power to Ghanaians at 15 cents.

“…As a result of its [Government’s] bad arrangement with AMERI for example, VRA has incurred an avoidable loss of $218 million within the first 18 months, from January 2016 to July 2017. On the average, VRA incurs a loss of $11.5 million and this arrangement is supposed to be with us for five years.”

VRA also reportedly owes the banks to the tune of GHc 4.4 billion.

Despite these challenges, Mr. Duse said the Authority was doing its best to live up to its mandate of providing the people of Ghana with affordable power.

“I urge those in the Ministry of Energy and Finance Ministry to stop micro-managing VRA and allow the governance structures to work… What VRA needs at this material moment is a board and the debts in the power sector cleared to make VRA’s books look good,” he said.

Stop the sale of thermal plants or face our anger – VRA Senior staff

These workers are joining the Senior Staff of the VRA and the VRA’s division of Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), who have petitioned government, asking for the withdrawal of the public advertisement seeking to engage the services of a Transaction Adviser, to sell specified thermal plants of the company.

The workers in a resolution reached at the end of a meeting on August 25, 2017, forwarded their demands to the Ministers of Energy, Employment and Labour Relations, Finance and the National Security Minister.

They gave government 14-days to meet their demands or risk an industrial action.

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By: Anas Seidu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Selling thermal plants won’t solve VRA’s problems – Staff appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The workers in a resolution reached at the end of a meeting on August 25, 2017, forwarded their demands to the Ministers of Energy, Employment and Labour Relations, Finance and the National Security Minister.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RDgyT473zkmxGYe3sEJoWOUNlf1b1TWd”]They warned that, they will “marshal all available legitimate forces to stall the process and save VRA for mother Ghana” if government goes ahead with its decision to sell off the plants.

According to them, the decision to sell off the thermal plants through an advertisement in the Daily Graphic on August 24, 2017, came to them as a surprise since they were not consulted.

“The advertisement has brought disappointment and agitation to the rank and file of VRA, and almost paralyzing VRA’s power operations. The non-engagement prior to this advertisement is a breach of the VRA ACT 1961 (Act 46) as amended, specifically 2, 3, 19 and 20. This is therefore a complete breach of trust and non-adherence to good corporate governance principles.”

The workers in their resolution said “we therefore resolve that: the advertisement be withdrawn. The decision to sell any VRA Thermal Assets be rescinded, VRA’s Thermal and non-power generating assets are not for sale.”

They added that, “Whatever informed the decision to sell was not based on any proper root cause analysis of VRA’s problems and that of the entire power sector. Mr. President, please intervene to stop the process of the sale of VRA assets to avoid potential industrial action. We are expecting your response in 14-days after the date of this resolution.”

The government has already advertised the sale of at least a majority stake in specified thermal plants, and it has argued that, the VRA was not doing a good enough job with the management of the thermal plants, and should focus on just hydro power generation.

But the senior staff of the company disagree with government’s reasons for the intended sale.

It rather wants government to among other things, “restructure the company, by ensuring that independent power producers such as AMERI, TICo/TAQA, Asogli and CENIT, procure their own fuel.They must also be made to sell their expensive power directly to the distribution companies and other customers rather than making VRA the off-taker. Government must stop compelling VRA to sell power to customers like VALCO at subsidized rate.”

The workers also want government to “inaugurate a governing board immediately for the VRA as prescribed in Section 3, (1) of the VRA ACT 1961 (ACT 46) as amended. There must be proper engagement in all decisions that impact on the sustainability of VRA” they added.

We’ll resist sale of VRA thermal plants – Mutawakilu

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority in Parliament has already warned that it will vehemently resist attempts to sell some thermal plants of the Volta River Authority (VRA).

The Minority’s Spokesperson on Energy, Adams Mutawakilu, speaking on Eyewitness News recently stressed that, selling the VRA thermal plants should not be an option for government.

“The sale of VRA thermal plants shouldn’t be considered. It shouldn’t be an option. If that is their option, they should rethink because there will be resistance from well-meaning Ghanaians, from the NDC in respect to the sale of the thermal plants.”

“We will do everything including demonstrations. We will undertake stakeholder consultations to get stakeholders on board… whatever we will do to ensure that it becomes very difficult to sell off government assets, we will do it” he stated.

Consumers will suffer

The Minority has long maintained that, this move will compromise Ghana’s power security and the comfort of consumers.

“If you take the total energy generation, the government has control of 65 percent of the total power generation; 1,254 megawatts for thermal, and 1,580 megawatts for hydro,” Mr. Mutawakilu noted.

The Independent Power Producers are responsible for 1,505 megawatts, thus “the moment we sell off this plant, government will control only 36 percent and 64 percent will be controlled by the private sector. You know they are profit oriented, so apart from power security, it is going to lead to high tariffs,” the MP said.

This would be a slap in the face of the government’s promise to reduce electricity tariffs for Ghanaians, Mr. Mutawakilu added.

“With the steps they are taking, if you want to actually reduce tariffs, you don’t handover power generation to the private sector, and that is why we are against it. The ordinary consumer will suffer… there is no way we can sell our assets and the private sector takes control then we come out and say we want to reduce electricity tariffs.”
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Stop the sale of thermal plants or face our anger – VRA Senior staff appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he described private sector participation “as the most efficient way to go” in the handling of the thermal plants.

[contextly_sidebar id=”UZM5HMPuU15Bw4G3oOgPKziJTGUHYlD0″]The government, however, is set on the sale of the plants, as indicated by an advertisement the sale of at least a majority stake in specified thermal plants owned by the VRA.

The government had decided that the VRA was not doing a good enough job with the management of the thermal plants, but the recent move to sell that has upset some workers of the VRA.

Mr. Mutawakilu also insisted that, selling off state assets to solve problems is not always the best action to take.

He recounted the near sale of the now-GCB Bank in 2007/08 because it was in distress, but “NDC came into power and we thought we should not just sell it. Let’s let private sector participate.”

“… And today, we are using GCB Bank to salvage UT and Capital Bank. That tells you that it’s not just selling that is the most important solution. Letting the private sector participate, and therefore Ghanaians participate; that is local content.”

He also explained that opting for private sector participation would mean government will retain some shares in the company, and it wouldn’t be left entirely in the hands of the public sector.

The MP argued further that, the private sector participation would bring some discipline and keep the government on its toes.

“Once the private sector participates and even has 49 percent shares and the government has 51 percent shares, it brings discipline. Ministers and other government appointees cannot abuse their powers.”

Thus, the sale of VRA thermal plants shouldn’t be an option, Mr. Mutawakilu stressed.

“If that is their option, they should rethink because there will be resistance from well-meaning Ghanaians, from the NDC in respect to the sale of the thermal plants,” he warned.

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

The post Consider private participation for VRA thermal plants – NDC MP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

For one, the Minister argued on Eyewitness News that government’s plans were contained in the budget statement which was in the public domain.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ovZURJ0Tz2wlYZWpqvG3Wofkdw56UhXD”]”The people including representatives of the workers have looked at this budget statement. Nobody should pretend that this was some strange policy that was sprung on Ghanaians,” Mr. Kwarteng asserted.

“There has been consultation with many stakeholders on this subject. During the budget preparation, we spoke with many experts,” he added.

The government also engaged with “some of the senior level officers of VRA” and some of these engagements “have been running for years,” Mr. Kwarteng said.

“You cannot always go down and organize workers’ forums and say that this is what government wants to do; do you agree?… This new requirement that anytime you are making a decision on any entity, you need to go and organise public forum with the workers there is strange to me.”

Surprised staff

The Senior Staff Association of VRA, had, noted to Citi News that the advert came as a surprise to all the staff of the VRA.

“We were not consulted. We were not engaged in any way so we have no input in what the government is trying to do,” Cephas Duse, the Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of VRA stated.

Mr. Kwarteng, however, extended an olive branch, saying the government was ready to explain its position to the VRA staff.

“We are happy to engage the workers and to explain the rationale for these decisions and that it is for the good energy sector that we are taking these steps. That kind of engagement, we are willing to do.”

“But the suggestion that we should have sought the approval of workers before proceeding, and that if anybody disagrees with government policy then somehow there is a problem with the policy, is something I do not accept.”

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

The post Thermal plants sale: Gov’t didn’t ‘swerve’ VRA staff – Kwaku Kwarteng appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.