'Keep the lights on as we did' - Herbert Krapa to NDC government

A former Minister for Energy under the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government, Herbert Krapa, has rejected claims by the Co-Chairman of the Transition Team sub-committee on Energy and Natural Resources that the outgoing government left the nation’s energy sector on the brink of a power crisis.

According to Mr. Krapa, contrary to the assertion by Mr. John Jinapor, the Akufo-Addo government left behind a depleted stock of fuel supply for energy generation.

“I have read a statement from Hon. John Jinapor (MP), Co-Chairman of the Transition Team sub-committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in which he claims that ‘massive load shedding looms as Ghana’s fuel stock depletes’ and seeks to blame His Excellency President Akufo-Addo and his government for it. Mr. Jinapor is wrong. Load shedding does not ‘loom.’ It is caused either by technical or emergency power generation issues or a lack of competence in managing the power sector. Mr. Jinapor seems to be haunted clearly by the latter. By the time of leaving office, President Akufo-Addo’s government left in stock light crude oil, which Cenpower currently generates power with, while AKSA continues to take delivery of heavy fuel oil, which it generates power with. This fact is easily verifiable with a phone call to both power plants,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday, January 7, 2024.

Speaking on the sidelines of the presidential inauguration on Tuesday, Mr. Jinapor said available information indicated that the outgoing government had left in stock fuel that is sufficient for the generation of power for about five hours. He described the situation as troubling, emphasizing that the consequences could lead the nation into a serious power crisis.

But reacting to the statement in his Facebook post, Herbert Krapa maintained that the onus lies on the new government to ensure a consistent supply of power as the outgoing government had done.

“The responsibility of the new administration is to not only procure more liquid fuel to keep the lights on whenever liquid fuel becomes required to complement gas supply but also plan competently to avert power supply disruptions. We did it, and they can do it too. The NDC government should get to work as we did. The reason we kept the lights on for eight years, regardless of the difficult times, and stop the needless finger-pointing. That is not the way we kept the lights on,” he added.

Read his full statement below:

KEEP THE LIGHTS ON AS WE DID—YOU ARE IN GOVERNMENT

I have read a statement from Hon. John Jinapor (MP), Co-Chairman of the Transition Team Sub-Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in which he claims that “massive load shedding looms as Ghana’s fuel stock depletes” and seeks to blame His Excellency President Akufo-Addo and his government for it.

Mr. Jinapor is wrong. Load shedding does not “loom.” It is caused either by technical or emergency power generation issues or by a lack of competence in managing the power sector. Clearly, Mr. Jinapor seems haunted by the latter.

By the time we left office, President Akufo-Addo’s government had left in stock light crude oil, which Cenpower currently uses to generate power, while AKSA continues to take delivery of heavy fuel oil for its power generation. This fact can easily be verified with a phone call to both power plants.

The responsibility of the new administration is not only to procure more liquid fuel to keep the lights on whenever it becomes necessary to complement gas supply but also to plan competently to prevent power supply disruptions. We managed to do it, and they can too—if they are capable.

The NDC government should get to work as we did. That is the reason we maintained uninterrupted power supply for eight years, regardless of difficult times. They must stop the needless finger-pointing, as that is not how we kept the lights on.

HERBERT KRAPA

FORMER MINISTER FOR ENERGY