President-elect, John Dramani Mahama says the country’s energy sector is in dire need of urgent reforms to address the escalating crisis caused by the outgoing government led by President Akufo-Addo.
He stressed that, without prompt intervention, the situation could jeopardize the economic growth and development of the country with a current debt of $2.5 billion and non-payment of Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
Speaking during a brief meeting with the Canadian High Commission in Ghana following his electoral victory in the December 7 elections, President Mahama has accused the outgoing Akufo-Addo-led government of mismanaging the country’s energy sector resulting in high debt levels, unreliability of power and high tariffs on consumers.
“The energy sector is another area in which this outgoing administration has mismanaged in a major way. They’ve kept the lights on at the expense of accruing a very huge debt”, President Mahama stated.
He continued: “that debt is being audited and so far we’re looking at $2.5 billion. And so not paying the producers of energy just piling on the debt and paying other things that are also as critical as paying down the energy sector debt.”
Mr. Mahama further revealed that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has a poor governance record with a current technical and commercial loss of 32%. electricity.
The newly elected President also stated that, Ghana could have saved up to $1 billion every year if the government had opted for gas in energy production rather than importing crude oil.
“Gas production has gone down, and so we’re having to use more light crude oil, and that makes electricity production more expensive. And so if you chose that option, then at least pay the IPPs for producing, and yet they’re not paying them. And so the debts in that area have ballooned. The energy sector needs urgent surgery otherwise it can collapse everything,” he stated.
