The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the United Front Party, Mr John Akwasi Addae has come out with poignant remedies to end Ghana’s energy crisis including total privatization of the country’s largest power supplier, the Electricity Company of Ghana.
He further noted determination of tariff by the Public Utility and Regulation Commission (PURC) is a growing disaffection to investors, and total collapsing of the commission would attract investor stakeholders.
According to the businessman, the traditional mentality of most Ghanaians towards state’s properties must inform policy makers to desist from solving today’s crisis with solutions of the past, hence there is the need for leaders to be in tune with the reality on the ground.
Mr John Akwasi Addae, who is popularly called Odike, who was speaking to Hellofm’s Kokrokoo programme charged the Mahama led government to be bold to privatize the Electricity Company of Ghana since that is the only way to ensure constant provision of power to the people.
He posited,’ everybody is badly affected by the current system of power provision. Businesses are collapsing and it has rendered more people jobless. We cannot sit unconcerned for this menace to continue. But I believe the President must strong to come out with statement in support of energy privatisation’. He explained no local or foreign investors would invest in the energy sector while the tariff is being determined by the PURC, whose does not know how power is generated.
However, Mr Akwasi Addae’s opinion is in sharp contrast with that of Civil Society Group, ISODEC, whose Director, Dr. Steve Manteaw is urging the government to rescind its attempt to privatise the company.
Dr. Steve Manteaw who gave the warning in a radio interview in Accra noted, “For me the challenge or the solution is not really about privatization…we need to do a proper diagnosis of the problem facing ECG and find a solution and not to quickly jump at privatization as an option,” Dr. Manteaw said."We are worried about the fact that we have not had the opportunity to debate what are the diagnosis in this document...wisdom does not reside only in the heads of those in government in fact in many cases wisdom resides outside government".
Notwithstanding, the UFP leader believes his warning is not a good remedy to end the crisis. Mr Akwasi Addae cited an example of the brouhaha the sale of Ghana Telecom generated in the country when former President J.A. Kufour pushed for the sale of the state property. He recounted how the then opposition NDC tried to make capital out of the sale but said we are all living testimony of the revenue Vodafone is generating to the state.
He noted, ‘this is a democratic state, and we must expect divergent views but the government must show focus and decide eventually to privatise the energy sector’.
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