Mr. Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director for African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), has intimated that government did not take expert advice in resolving the power generation issue in the country which resulted in the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) contract.
Speaking in an interview,;he said government was advised to take its time in fixing the power generation problem by declaring a load shedding schedule to enable them plan to tackle the action but it did not happen.
Mr. Boakye said experts also hinted that the then government was signing too much PPAs which was going to in turn affect the country financially, but was also not heeded to which has unfortunately happened.
His comments come following the current $170m judgement debt government is facing as a result of the termination of the GPGC contract.
Mr. Boakye said at the time the nation was facing issues of power generation,;different solutions were proposed to bring on power generation for the nation’s power generating system and that resulted to the GPGC contract.
“As experts in the space, we were also careful to appreciate how we were resolving the problem. I remember we were very active in the space at the time trying to raise alarm for government to be cautious on how it resolved the problem.”
Benjamin Boakye
Some energy institutions are to blame
However, he apportioned blame on some energy institutions which were part of the committee to have proposed the solutions to end the power cuts which he claims has rather resulted in a difficult situation.
“Institutions like Energy Commission,;they are suppose to plan our energy system and to show how much we need at that time and proffer solutions. But where were they when we were signing the excess capacity? You can be around and be idle and turn around to be the apostles of prescribing what should be done.”
Benjamin Boakye
Gov’t should allow energy institutions deal with purchases
He further suggested that government should step back and;allow agencies established overtime to deal with such power purchases and agreement. He added that,;if these institutions start to regulate,;the state has to step back and rather bring about policies and leave the business aspect to these institutions.
“That is what we have failed to do and so we have contracts being signed by the Ministries. So, the policy institutions have become procurement institutions and that is the bigger challenge. Ministers are always signing contracts instead of engineering policies.
“Institutes such as the PURC, Energy Commission, GRIDCo amongst others,;that is the reason why we set up these institutions to provide the space for regulation to be efficient and effective. You can’t have these institutions regulating government and that is why it’s not working.”
Benjamin Boakye
In February 2015,;the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) entered into negotiations with the Government of Ghana for the provision of a fast-track power generation solution.
This was to see the relocation of the GPGC Equipment from Italy to Ghana,;to alleviate the effects of Ghana’s then-ongoing power shortage crisis.
However, the contract was terminated in 2017 and GPGC pressed legal charges against government over the termination basis.
