MPs grill Deputy Minister over electricity

Five Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday grilled Mr Abu Jinapor, the Deputy Minister for Power, on the extension of power from the national electricity grid to some communities in their constituencies.

When it got to the turn of Mr Johnson Kwaku Adu, New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Ahafo Ano South West, the Member wanted to know why the following communities: Asuokor, Ango, Dotiem, Akyiase, Manhyia, Adiembra, Pewodie, Asukese, Antienfi and Bonkron were still not connected to the national electricity grid.

“The communities have been captured for consideration under our subsequent electrification projects when funding becomes available,” Mr Jinapor said.

Mr Adu said he was not satisfied with the Deputy Minister’s answer that the communities mentioned did not form part of any of the on-going electrification projects being executed by the Ministry.

More so, Mr Adu said, correspondence from the Ministry to the District Assembly indicated that only 15 communities, which were scaled down from the initial 75, had been captured and earmarked for the electrification project.

The Ahafo Ano South West MP said currently, only 38 out of the 178 communities in the constituency have been connected to the national electricity grid.

“There is a huge deficit of electricity, and I intend to visit the Minister in his office for further discussions, based on which I will know the next course of action to take,” Mr Adu later told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview.

The MP said he had ordered 200 solar lanterns for the communities, and had requested for more as an interim measure to supply light to the communities.

Other questions asked the Deputy Minister stood in the names of Robert Sarfo-Mensah, MP for Asunafo North; Mr Anthony Osei Boakye, MP for Atwima Nwabiagya North; Mr Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, MP for Sunyani East; Mr Samuel Ayeh-Paye, MP for Ayensuano.

Meanwhile, the House has paid tribute to the late Mrs Theodosia Okoh, the designer of Ghana’s national flag, who was given a state funeral and has since been buried at the Osu Cemetery in Accra.

Mr Joe Ghartey, Second Deputy Speaker, read a statement which gave a biography of the late designer of the national flag and national hockey star.

Contributions eulogised the late Mrs Okoh for her selflessness and urged the state to do more to recognize its heroes.