Deputy Energy Minister in charge of Finance, Joseph Cudjoe, has asked members of the National Democratic Congress to stop criticising government for taking credit for the end to Ghana’s electricity crisis.
He said the NDC should rather apologise to Ghanaians for its failure to end the years of crisis that crippled the country’s economy and led to job losses due to of the collapse of businesses.
Presenting the 2018 Budget Statement in parliament last Wednesday, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said: “We have provided reliable electricity supply,” a claim that triggered uproar from the Members of Parliament.
“Our SHS students have literally forgotten how to spell dumsor because dumsor is dead!” Mr. Ofori-Atta added.
READ: Akufo-Addo ended ‘dumsor’ – Finance Minister claims
Though the Mahama-led government had before exiting office on January 7, 2017 announced the end of the erratic electricity supply, which was locally referred to as dumsor, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday suggested otherwise.
In December 2015, the then Power Ministry announced it had fixed an electricity supply deficit that caused years of frequent blackouts resulting in loadshedding management across the country.
The crisis which began in 2012 became a talking point in political discussions as the then opposition New Patriotic Party blamed the situation on what it termed as the incompetence of the John Mahama administration.
“The Ministry of Power wishes to inform the public that its Load Shedding programme in respect of electricity supply has been brought to an end,” a statement issued by the Ministry in December 2015 claimed.
Mr. Ofori-Atta’s claim thus attracted criticism, especially from the Minority in Parliament, which questioned the authenticity of the Finance Minister’s statement.
Minority leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu stated that the New Patriotic Party government cannot say it finally ended Dumsor, insisting that it would have been appropriate if the finance minister acknowledged they inherited a generational capacity that was very helpful in ending dumsor.
NDC only bought plants
But responding, the Deputy Energy Minister maintained on Onua FM Monday that it was true prudent management of the current administration that ended the longest ever electricity crisis
“The NDC government at the time was only interested in purchasing power plants and generators without fueling them. If you buy these things and you don’t fuel them to produce power, what problem have you fixed” he wondered.
Mr Cudjoe who is also the Member of Parliament for Efia told Bright Kwesi Asempa on ‘Yen Nsem Pa’ that “they [NDC] should be apologizing to Ghanaians instead of saying we did not solve the Dumsor. We have”
“If you want your house to be connected to the national grid, do you first pay the ECG to bury pole in front of your house first or you will first get certified electricians to wire your house? Obviously that is not logical,” he posited.
He argued that there was no commitment on the part of the Mahama-led government as officials were only burnt on enriching themselves to the detriment of businesses and households.
The Deputy Minister said it took creative management of the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko and the President to alleviate the pains of suffering power consumers.
“So we have solved it and there are a lot of plans advanced to increase power generation. Soon Ghanaians will witness exponential increase in power supply across the country” he promised.
By Bright Dzakah|Onua 95.1FM|3news.com|Ghana