It is sad NPP has derailed gains made in the power sector – Armah Buah

Former Minister for Energy, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, who is also the deputy minority leader, has described as very heartbreaking the failure of the Nana Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government to leverage on the gains made in the power sector before the NDC handed over power to them.

According to him, the power crisis or dumsor Ghanaians are enduring is self-inflicted.

Mr. Buah, who is also the MP for Elembelle, explained that the Mahama administration, which was bastardized during the peak of the power crisis in 2014 and 2015, took bold decisions to fix it.

“It was not easy. We had sleepless nights, but the visionary Mills-Mahama government was focused. Learning from the past, which saw very little investment by previous governments in the power sector to match projections by the Energy Commission, we brought in the Ameri Plant, the Karpowership, and others. We were able to convince independent power producers, who at the time were sceptical because of risk factors. We also invested heavily in the Atuabo Gas Plant to address the flaring of gas. Today it's feeding the thermal plants and saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually," he explained.

He said aside from these, the Mahama administration, which faced the power crisis head-on, introduced the Energy Sector Levy (ESLA) to address the legacy debts, crippling stakeholders in the value chain and lobbied the US government for Compact II of the Millennium Challenge Account, a whopping $500 million to retool the ECG to reduce commercial losses affecting the company’s operations.

“But this government did not only mess up ESLA by collateralizing it, resulting in heavy indebtedness to IPPs, but could not fully harness the US money because of the fraudulent PDS, which made the Americans angry,” he added.

The former energy minister blamed the return of dumsor on pure mismanagement and the inability to pay for fuel to produce electricity, which he described as shameful attempts by the government and ECG to cover up.

He, however, assured that the next NDC government will take the necessary steps to reverse the situation and boost confidence in the business community for economic growth.