***Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Minister designate for Energy and
Petroleum has reiterated that he will partner with the various stakeholders
of the sector to enhance quality service to the citizenry in terms of
providing utilities, adding that he was committed to solving problems.*
According to him his office will also ensure that Ghana becomes the hub of
business attraction with regards to the energy sector since he was
comfortable in working with the various government agencies under the
energy sector.
Answering questions which were directed to him by some members of the
Vetting and Appointment Committee last Thursday in Accra, he maintained
that President Mahama was aggressive in his policy of energy for all by the
year 2016 for a 100 per cent accessibility of electricity in every part of
the country.
He said there was a backlog of energy to be connected and that the
Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) still required about 500,000 meters,
especially the use of smart meters, to curb consumers from tempering with
them.
Mr Kofi-Buah was also doubles as the Member of Parliament for Ellembele
Constituency in the Western Region added that if the energy for all
programmes was feasible, when given the nod; the ministry would work with
the private sector to ensure that this objective was achieved.
Mr Armah said the ECG had come out with a Charter to address challenges the
company faced and pledged he would work with the ECG to address customer
satisfaction related problems adding that a lot of tracking of power
outages must be carried out to know the problem areas.
He said 300 million dollars was devoted for the rural electrification
project as energy supply was low, especially in most communities in the
northern part of the country.
He said there was an ongoing reform of the ECG with a plan to split the
company into four business units which are Volta and Eastern Region,
Ashanti Region, Central and Western Region and Northern Region and that the
process needed to be sped up.
Mr Buah said he would work with the private sector to mobilise the
necessary energy resources, be it renewable, to enable the government to
meet its target by 2016.
He noted that attention must be placed on gas and that a gas task force,
set up by late President Mills, had made a lot of progress but the Ministry
of Finance and Economic Planning must be supportive in that drive.
Mr Buah also noted that a policy on de-regulation was still effective but
had to be discussed adding that government would look at the situation and
use subsidy money for development purposes.
Touching on the issue of local content in the area of oil discovery, he
assured that measures had already been put in place to have Ghanaians
employed and acquire the requisite skills as real jobs were going to come
from jobs associated with the oil industry.
He said the top priority was how to manage the oil revenue to benefit all
including future generations.
Mr Buah said he would ensure that the ministry sets up a Small and Medium
Entrepreneurs Centre to help businesses to be creative and be competitive
in the industry.
Other nominees vetted include Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor, Minister designate for
Government Business in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister designate
for Trade and Industry, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah Oppong, Attorney General
and Minister of Justice designate, and Ms Dzifa Ativor, Minister of
Transport designate.**
