Power Outages Were Not The Result Of Sabotage

Energy Minister, Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum today commended the Staff and Management of the Volta River Authority (VRA) for not tampering with equipment or trying to sabotage power supply during the standoff between them.

He said the two "unfortunate events" of nationwide power outages were due to technical problems and urged all workers at the Authority to be mindful of the changes that are soon to occur and "act wisely". Speaking to Journalists in Accra, Dr Ndoum said the VRA would be restructured as part of efforts geared towards reforming the Energy Sector.

The reform that begins in June sets out to separate the operations of the VRA into two entities with the aim of solving the problems at the Authority. Under the reforms thermal operations would be separated from the hydro with each having a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Management.

For the thermal operations, the Minister said there is currently one plant manned by VRA, a second manned by a private owner and a third that is idle. The immediate measure is to combine all of the operations in a joint partnership with the aim to produce power at a low cost and under a single management. Dr Ndwum said the new VRA is expected to be an aggressive power producer that will produce more energy efficiently. The Energy Minister said he is in consultation with President John Agyekum Kufuor over the recommendations of a Committee he set up to investigate allegation made against Dr Charles Wereko Brobby.

He said the Committee basically exonerated the CEO of VRA, Dr Wereko-Brobby from allegations of mismanagement but said for now, the decision of the CEO to step aside for investigations to be completed and other measures taken during the workers' agitations would remain as they are. He said the report and its recommendations covered three main areas - collective bargaining, specific allegations against Dr Wereko-Brobby and the Board of the Authority and technical and financial matters in relation to the running of VRA. Dr Ndoum said the collective bargaining aspect was handled with the appointment of a retired labour expert whose recommendations settled the issue.

The second area of the report dwelt on the specific allegations against Dr Wereko-Brobby and the Board bordering on salaries, impropriety in the procurement of cars for management staff, mismanagement of provident funds, impropriety in the procurement of crude oil and changes in working hours. The Minister said there were no adverse findings against the Chief Executive in all these areas except that his management style caused conflict. On the Board, the Committee said it had not exercised sufficient control over the activities of both the CEO and the workers.