‘’We need to work on power wastage” - VRA Boss

Mr Kirk Koffi, Chief Executive of the Volta River Authority (VRA), on Thursday said the public need to do something about wastage in both supply and demand of electricity to avoid future energy problems.

He said if nothing was done about that, the Authority would add on more capacity but the country would still be found wanting year after year.

He, therefore, urged the media to assist the VRA to send the message to the public about the need to save power and save on their bills because electricity was an expensive commodity and must be used judiciously.

Mr Koffi, who was speaking at the seventh Presidential Luncheon of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR), said the country is faced with serious challenges of fast growing demand for electricity and the corresponding difficulty of keeping up with investments on the supply end.

He said VRA, as a state institution with the largest responsibility of electricity generation in the country, was doing everything it could to expand its own generation portfolio as well as to provide partnership and support for Independent Power Producers to make up for the deficit and increased capacity.

This year’s luncheon was under the theme, “Enhancing National Discourse: The Place of the Professional Public Relations Practitioner” and was sponsored by VRA, SSNIT, Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited, EDAIF, GTP Nustyle, Special Ice Mineral water, and Accra Brewery Limited.

Media partners are Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Graphic Communication Group, Buck Press Limited and Global Alliance.

Mr Koffi commended IPR for thoughtfully choosing a theme of great national importance, urgency and worthy exploring.

He stated that understanding the importance of treating all people with self-esteem could help reduce prejudice and stressed the need for people to demonstrate sensitivity and circumspection and strive to be more inclusive in the use of language.

He said Public Relations was an effective strategic and management functions and urged Chief Executives to resource the PR outfits adequately to enable them to achieve the objective of effectively managing corporate reputation.

“Organizational leadership must understand and come to the conclusion that image is everything, and so must strive to invest in keeping their image positive and intact,” he added.

Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister of Communications, urged members of the IPR to join the efforts to overcome the Ebola crisis in the sub-region.

Major Albert Don-Chebe (Rtd), President of IPR, Ghana, said as practitioners, they have watched with increasing satisfaction the growing strategic contribution of communication and public relations towards the financial growth and the success of several enterprises.

He said all the signs pointed to the continued relevance and centrality of PR to consumers and client satisfaction, and also the delivery of corporate goals.

“While we acknowledge this positive development, we also recognise the huge weight of responsibility that this transformation of our function places on the shoulders of all professional practitioners,” he said.

Major Don-Chebe said Public relations for several years was misunderstood, neglected and shunned to the periphery of corporate management.

That, he said, was redeemed through vigorous advocacy by the pioneers and effective performance in the field, which had made corporate Ghana to wake up to the benefit of the practice and have sometimes grudgingly recognized their special roles and skills as an essential addition to the corporate management mix.