Power minster must go if… - Analyst

Ahead of the December 31st pledge to the end of Dumsor as promised by the Power Minister, Dr Kwabena Donkor, an energy analyst, Kwadwo Poku has suggested to President John Mahama to sack the minister if the problem still exists after the stipulated date.

According to Mr. Poku, politicians have taken the country for a ride for far too long with unfounded promises which has contributed to the seeming hopelessness in a government roadmap to end the power crisis.

“If I were president Mahama and come December 31st the problems still exist and the minster does not resign, I would sack him.

“At least the end of the year is December so you can hold me to that. Yes I will resign, as he replies Joy News demanding if Ghanaians would be justified in calling for his head if the situation persists by the close of 2015.

“The reason I would do that is not because I think he is competent or not competent, but I would like to set an example to my ministers that if you can’t do something, don’t promise Ghanaians because my Presidency means business.” Mr Opoku speaking on Joy TV's news analysis programme PM Express noted.

Mr. Poku reiterated that Mr. Donkor earlier on in March this year, vowed to work towards ending the load shedding before the end of December by promising to resign from his post if he fails to achieve this.

Mr. Poku said it would be an indictment on President Mahama’s administration if the Power Minister still remains at post after the December deadline proves elusive.

He suggests the politicians stay away from the Engineers and allow them to do their job.

Power producer, Volta River Authority (VRA) has brought in a 250-megawatt (MW) plant from Africa and Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI) to mitigate the country’s power deficit.

The AMERI power plant, according to the Power Ministry should be feeding the national grid by next week.

However, Mr. Poku doubts that Engineers working on the 250 megawatts power plant have been consulted to confirm that the plant will start operation by next week.

According to Power Expert, a lot will go into connecting the AMERI plant to its fuel source at Ghana Gas, however, because somebody is trying to rush to a deadline, we might not give the engineers the breathing space to do the test run and make sure the plant is working properly.