Member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Edward Bawa says he has doubts the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will comply with the directive of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission on a set of demands.
Per the PURC orders, the ECG has until the close of tomorrow March, 27 to publish a load management timetable and other demands.
Already, the first order demanding that the ECG pays all power producers under the water cashfall mechanism expired yesterday, Monday 25th March.
Again, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has ordered the ECG to present to it a comprehensive report of its operations in relation to tariff revenue allocation, regulatory audit data and operational matters, among others by close of day April 2, 2024.
But Edward Bawa says the management of ECG has shown total disrespect to Parliament and Ghanaians on the issues.
He is also confident that ECG will not comply with the PURC directives.
“ECG refused to appear before the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament. Just in line with how this government operates, ECG had the arrogance to look in the face of Parliament and refused to come.
“As a Minority, we have made our case… that was on Tuesday and on Wednesday, the House went on break. But some of us have said that when we come back to Parliament, we are going to cite ECG for contempt. You cannot look in the faces of the people’s representatives and say ‘to hell with you’.
“For Mahama to do what he is doing, it is because he is backed by very powerful people and unless we accept that there is a problem, we cannot address it. We have a very irresponsible government who has also appointed a very indisciplined, and to some extent a disrespectful management led by the board chairman Keli Gadzekpo and the Chief Executive Officer Dubik Mahama, who simply cannot care about the consumer as long as everyday they get whatever they want in life.”
Meanwhile, the Energy Minister, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh says he does not support the release of a load-shedding timetable.
In an interview with JoyNews, Mr. Opoku Prempeh said the demand for the timetable is equivalent to wishing evil for the country.
“Let those who want the timetable bring it. I don’t know of any timetable because the ECG has said it is not necessary. Why would someone just wish evil for the country?” he asked.
But his comments have been condemned by a section of Ghanaians who called into the Super Morning Show and insisted a timetable will help them better plan their lives and businesses.
“I live in Kasoa and we have had intermittent light off, we are connected to generator and it is also out of fuel, so what is the Minister saying? What do they take us for? Bring us a timetable so we can plan our lives around when we have light and when we don’t so at least we know what to do. I am really frustrated this morning,” the first caller said.
Another caller added that, “Yesterday, the lights were on throughout the day and around 6pm it went off, but within a few seconds it came back and then they took it again. Within about three hours it came back and you say you are not shedding light?”
“If I were the President, I would have fired him (Energy Minister), but African ministers and their presidents, they feel like they are monarchs,” he said.
The Energy Ministry says the Minister’s comments have been twisted by his accusers.
Elsewhere on X (formerly Twitter), many are livid over the Energy Minister’s bluff for paying consumers to produce their own load shedding timetable.