By Papisdaff Abdullah.
The minority in Ghana’s parliament is accusing President Akufo-Addo of deception in claiming that Ghana under his aegis is now a net exporter of power.
President Akufo-Addo claimed in an address at the Financial Times Africa Summit earlier this week that in just 21 months of his governance he ensured stability and adequate power supply in the country, making it possible for excess power to be exported.
“Ghana, as a result, is today a net exporter of electricity. I was in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, last Friday, for the inauguration, with the President of Burkina Faso, His Excellency Roch Marc Christian Kabore, of the Bolgatanga (capital of Ghana’s Upper East Region) to Ouagadougou Power Interconnection Project, which will see, daily, up to 100 megawatts of power supplied directly to Burkina Faso from Ghana,” said President Akufo-Addo.
According to the Minority, however, the President’s claims are misleading.
“You can be a net exporter when you have excess capacity. So we need to evaluate. Where were we in 2008 and where we are now, first in 2016 and now [2018]?” the Minority Spokesperson on Energy Adam Mutawakilu asked in an interaction with journalists. He said in 2008 Ghana had an excess power capacity of roughly 1935 megawatts and by the time the NDC left power under former President John Mahama, Ghana had 4132 megawatts.
“That’s in excess of 2000 megawatts. So, if you don’t have the generation [capacity] and the availability you cannot be talking of export. Under former President Mahama, we negotiated Karpower agreement, brought in 225 megawatts and 450 was to follow. President Nana Akufo-Addo came and continued with it. Not only continued with it but extended it from 10 years to 15 years. So if you are complaining that we have excess capacity you don’t need to extend it,” he said.
According to him, for Ghana to be able to export power, there’s the need for the transmission lines to be upgraded which was done under former President John Mahama.
“If someone had put this infrastructure in place and you now come to connect it and inaugurate it, it is proper for you to acknowledge that somebody had done so much work to a certain stage and you came and completed. When former President Mahama was inaugurating Bui he invited former President Kufour. When President Mills was…commissioning N1 highway he invited president Kufour to be present. It just shows recognition and appreciating what he has done. This is not the case in the NPP government, the Nana Akufo-Addo government. He will always not recognize,” noted Mutawakilu.
