In my previous piece on The Dumsor Diaries, I addressed how we the people of Ghana shot ourselves in the foot or ate our cake and asking to have it back pertaining to the current power crisis in the country. In this piece, I want to address why President Mahama deserves the pressure that he is getting now. In reality, President Mahama is not to be blamed entirely for the current power outages, rather all successive Head of States and Presidents must share the blame. Because when Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah thought it wise that Ghana's population will increase as the years go by, he began building the Bui Dam but just after he was overthrown in 1966, none of his successors gave a deserving attention to the continuation and completion of the Bui Dam or plan to build other smaller dams which can supply Ghana electricity. It was so until 2007/2008 that authorities realised the need for more power, thus plans to continue the construction of the Bui Dam. It was said that by 2013, the dam would be ready for full operation but that never happened.
This current power crisis is not the first of its kind. Ghana had power crisis in 1982-1985, 1998-2000, 2006-2007 and this current one which began from August 2012. So in all, Ghana has witnessed 4 major power crisis. I will not want to bother you with much details for the causes of these crisis but the bottom line is that Ghana depends mainly on the Akosombo Dam for power so any time rainfall pattern reduces or a major machine gets damaged, Ghana feels the heat. Quite recently, we have had the Aboadze and Asogli Termal plants assisting in giving power to a fast economy growing Ghana. At first, not much rainfall was needed but after Valco was established and it began working with so much power plus the emergence of several production companies, the Akosombo Dam needed to increase its power supply.
Talking about the current crisis which began in August 2012, the crisis was attributed to several told and untold factors. Among them was when a fault was detected on the West African Gas Pipeline which halted natural gas flowing from Nigeria to the thermal power plants in Ghana. Poor rainfall into the Akosombo Dam, lack of financing for fuel procurement, lack of proper maintenance on the thermal plants, delay of Jubilee gas were also among reasons for the current power crisis.
Though President John Dramani Mahama is not to be blamed entirely for this current power crisis since it is somewhat a creeping problem, I think he deserves the pressure. As a President, though you might not be the cause to some problems affecting your country, your ability to be very proactive in curbing or saving the situation proves your potentiality. President Mahama claims to be working hard in saving the situation which I trust he is doing but I think the help should be forth coming better than what is happening now.
One most important factor in all these to and fro about the power crisis is financing or money to help solve the problem. Government needs money to complete the Kpone thermal power plant, the T2 plant expansion, payment of its debt to ECG, acquire fuel for TT1PP and CENIT Power plants among others. All these boils down to how government can generate and manage its money so that enough will be channelled through funding for the power sector. And this is where the problem lies.
Government is unable to manage it funds as expected. We've had several issues pertaining corruption such as ghost names in the government pay roll, corruption by Ministers of State, corruption at GYEEDA, NADMO, NSS, SADA and co among others. The monies being lost in these instances are huge sums of money that when recouped or prevented can pay for the problems facing the power sector. Government is not being hard on its officials who have through several dubious means committed these crimes. And in cases where government claims to be working at it, not much is seen. Ghanaians as a people do the talking when issues come up and after one or two weeks, very few people remember those issues, thus our call for accountability is nothing to write home about. In some of these cases, several evidences show that indeed the officials accused are somewhat guilty but government either takes no action or less action to recoup the money and prosecute these officials.
Government's inability to punish corrupt officials gives the way for others to also engage in corruption because many in their minds will believe that much will not be done to them even if they get caught.
Furthermore, I think it was not that much of a necessity for government to establish the Power Ministry. Am not sure the power crisis was lack of human resource so what difference will the Power Ministry make in a country who is already suffering from financial difficulties. Because workers of that Ministry will get paid, cars will be bought and many other procurements will be made to keep the Ministry running. Ghana needed an emergency and am not sure the establishment of the Power Ministry can contribute effectively to solving the problem since we already have the Energy Ministry, VRA, GRIDCo, ECG and co managing power. Even if human resource was needed, a desk or an office with few intelligent personnels could have helped in contributing than establishing a whole Ministry which might not generate money but rather spend money.
The communication aspect of this whole power crisis is also one of the reasons why President Mahama is receiving pressure from many Ghanaians. The promise and fail factor which raises the hope of the people but later results in disappointment is part of why many keep calling for the President's head. The truth about the issue must be told so that every Ghanaian knows when the problem will be solved. Some Ghanaians know that President Mahama is not to be entirely blamed for the crisis but when the solution that comes out goes contrary to what is being promised, then the people feel they are being lied to. On several platforms, the President and his Ministers claimed that the solution is near but as soon as the time is approaching, they make a U turn to say something else. Notwithstanding issues to do with the purchasing or renting of power badges, etc.
In conclusion, President Mahama must find a way to solve the problem because the pressure will keep coming. There is a saying that if you tell a lie, you have to continue backing that lie with another lie till the end so it makes everything you say a lie. Am sure if monies that goes down to the throat of corrupt officials (both government officials and officials of the various institutions), money for managing the Power Ministry and so on are safe in government coffers, we might not be where we are now, thus President Mahama should punish corrupt officials without fear or favour. It is until then that Ghana will be a bit sufficient with money to solve its power problems because borrowing to solve the problem is like selling your colour TV to purchase a black and white TV. Ghana is capable of managing its own affairs so President Mahama should prove we can otherwise the NDC government will continue to be unpopular which might affect them in the 2016 general election.
No comments:
Post a Comment