Jinapor lied about Mahama stable power legacy - MP

Claims by former Deputy Power Minister John Jinapor that the John Mahama administration bequeathed a stable power sector to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is a palpable lie, the chairman of the parliamentary select committee on Energy and Mines, William Owuraku Aidoo, has said.

Mr Jinapor on Tuesday February 28 on the floor of parliament said the Mahama administration dealt with the energy situation in the country in a comprehensive and coherent manner and so there was no reason why the country should be having issues with energy.

He subsequently told journalists: “Under no circumstance should we be experiencing ‘dumsor’ (intermittent power supply) given the positive strides and the resilient robust nature of the power sector we handed over to them. And, so, if dumsor is recurring under this administration, they should solve it and not blame the John Mahama administration. We dealt with it in a comprehensive and coherent manner. If we were to be in government by now, we wouldn’t be experiencing ‘dumsor’.

“Under the NDC administration, the FPSO went down for almost two months. At a point Ameri was not running, they were not producing gas at all but we sustained power. Around August 2016 thereabouts, FPSO went down again but we sustained the power and so if they want they should invite us to teach them how to deal with the power crisis and how to sustain it.”

However, reacting to these comments in an interview with Emefa Apawu on Class 91.3FM’s 505 programme on Tuesday February 28, Mr Aidoo, who is also Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre South, said: “What provision was made for after the election? Nothing.

“The new government, with people who were not even in place as ministers, had to travel around West Africa looking for power sources so that we will not be in darkness. But for diligence and the hard work of Nana Akufo-Addo and his team that he has assembled who went to Ivory Coast to negotiate with the Ivorians to give us 200MW [of electricity], Ghanaians would be sleeping in total darkness by now.

“And so for him (Jinapor) to stand there and say that they left us with a stable energy sector is incredible, it’s palpable untruth, it is absolutely untrue.

“They left us with a regime with high tariff rates, probably the highest in Africa right now …That is what they bequeathed this country. If he said they left us with stable energy, it is absolutely false, it is not true. As I said, but for the good work of Honourable Agyarko (Minister of Energy) and his team, we would be sleeping in darkness by now. They left us nothing.”