Govt Continues To Blunder On Energy - CPP

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media, fellow Ghanaians, our country’s energy crisis intensifies by the day and our citizens have looked up to their Government to deliver them from the government’s failure and the daily hardship and inconvenience of darkness.

Proposals, suggestions and advice has` been offered from many quarters including the Convention People’s Party(CPP), and the population has waited patiently for government to outline new plans for the future.

The CPP after deliberating on various options including, further Hydro Power Generation , Thermal Generation, Nuclear Power, Solar Energy, Sea Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination etc, at its recent London Forum called on government to stop its arrogant posturing of looking at the current Energy crisis from a partisan point of view to one of a bi-partisan position and assemble urgently a Team of Experts, to consider Short, Medium and Long Term options, and report on technical, economic, environmental, possible sites etc. That such a Task force should have within its remit all the country’s Energy policies developed since independence to enable us to find lasting solutions to the current crisis. Many are puzzled therefore by the announcement by the Energy Minister, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda that the President, Mr. J. A. Kufuor, has set up a “committee of experts to explore the possibility of using nuclear energy as an alternative source of power in the country”. The Energy Minister, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda was quoted further as saying” the government had not given the members any time frame within which to finish their work” and also that .“The government has given them the window of opportunity to advice on what to do,” that “nuclear energy was one of the energy source options contained in Ghana’s Draft National Energy Policy as part of a long-term measure of solving the energy crisis in the country”. Ladies and Gentlemen , given that government failure has lead us to this point , our view is that it would be eminently more sensible for the Team of Experts, to consider all options - Short, Medium and Long Term options against the governments Draft Energy Policy and having consideration of all the country’s Energy policies developed since independence.

That in view of the urgency of the country’s need a time limit should be set. A major question which also arises against the Governments current proposal is - “What happens when the Experts after many months or years report a finding against Nuclear Energy, would the government then set up another Committee of Experts to consider another option?. The Judgment of this government continues to be challenged and their blunders on energy would seem to be continuing. They risk been seen forever as the “Party of Darkness”

Convention People’s Party (CPP) United Kingdom and Ireland` Secretariat