The Chief Executive Officer of African Energy Consortium Limited, Kwame Jantuah has acknowledged there are numerous challenges facing the power sector in Ghana.
He identified finance as the major problem, followed by debts, equipment inefficiencies, maintenance, fuel purchases, personal interests, and politics.
Speaking during JoyNews’ National Dialogue on the Power Sector on Thursday, April 18, Mr Jantuah stated that these challenges should not solely be attributed to the current government but should be viewed within the context of the Fourth Republic.
He noted that the country has experienced power disruptions due to recurring debts in the power sector, stating, “It will be unfair to situate it in one term because you’ve gone a full cycle and come back to the same thing.”
Mr Jantuah argued that despite challenges that have persisted over the years, little progress has been made in addressing them.
He called for efficient planning to restore efficiency in some of the Volta River Authority’s plants and highlighted issues with the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) that need to be addressed.
He stressed the importance of proper leadership in implementing solutions, stating, “When you look at the PURC report and some of the recommendations that they made, you ask yourself, why couldn’t we follow this from the word go.”
Mr Jantuah expressed concern about personal interests affecting decision-making in the sector, particularly regarding fuel purchases.
“There are people who want to make money on these purchases. Their personal interest has to do with the purchase of poles, meters, and fuels. Those who are supposed to run do so because they have leaders they are working with.
“I don’t think any of the heads of these departments can come out and do anything they want to do if they are not directed to do it.”
He emphasised the need for proper leadership to ensure that these entities work efficiently and called for an audit of all power sector institutions to assess their performance
“It’s only today, unfortunately, that we heard the president say PURC, ECG get together and do what you have to do. From the word go, that should have come out.”
“This thing that they let PURC do, let’s do it on all of them if we want to move forward. Government might be doing a good thing but it doesn’t look so. …If the president is now being briefed as if he doesn’t know, then it becomes a challenge,” Mr Jantuah said.
He lamented the politicisation of issues in the power sector, stating, “The question of ‘dumsor’ has been confirmed and this was being said way back that we had ‘dumsor’, did the government want to hear?
“That is the politics that come in there because they have unfortunately bastardised another government for going down the same line so it looks like if we say it, we’re going down the same line.”
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