‘Mahama’s excess capacity’ debate: Jinapor ‘schools’ deputy energy minister again

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Yapei Kusawgum, John Abdulia Jinapor, clashed with the Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, over the claim that there was excess power generation under the government of former President John Dramani Mahama.

Egyapa Mercer, the MP for Sekondi, claimed that he had official records showing an excess capacity power generation under the government of Mahama from 2012 to 2015.

He argued that the intermittent power supply experienced under the era of Mahama was because the then government did not have money to buy fuel for energy generation and not because the country was not generating enough power.

“… I’m saying to you that we had excess general in Ghana in 2015, let anybody dispute it. We had excess generation in 2014, we had excess general in 2013 and 2012. Fact, but we slept in darkness. Why? We couldn’t afford to buy fuel.

“The data is there; I have it here… this is from the Energy Commission. In 2015 there was a supply of 909 megawatts (actual capacity from the Akosombo Dam),” the deputy minister said.

John Jinapor, who was laughing at Egyapa Mercer's claims, said that the deputy minister wants to be schooled again because he had previously ‘blooded his nose’ in another argument about the energy sector.

He provided figures from the website of the Energy Commission of Ghana which showed that the figures the deputy minister was referring to were the country’s dependable capacity and not the actual generation capacity.

“When you say ‘dependable capacity’ it means that all things being equal, it (the Akosombo Dam) can give you 900 megawatts. The 1020 is the installed capacity but nobody gets the installed capacity… The average available, what is available for you, is 375 megawatts.

“Egyapa, I beg you, don’t do this again this is the second time,” John Jinapor reported.

He accused Egyapa of cooking figures to make Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, look bad, which the deputy minister took exception to.

Watch the incident in the video below:

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