President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a merger of the Ministries of Energy and Petroleum and Power.
Nana Addo made the announcement on Tuesday when he presented the first list of his ministerial appointments of thirteen (13) people, and named Boakye Agyarko as minister designate for the merged Ministry of Energy.
The President said having one individual to have oversight responsibility of the entire sector with the support of a formidable supporting staff, will produce the results needed.
He expressed the hope in the ability of Mr. Agyarko to lead a team of competent persons who can tackle the challenges facing the energy sector.
“There were all kinds of problems about the duplication of activities and the need for us to rationalize the infrastructure our energy sector. So I think that Boakye Agyarko is in the position to undertake that task and do it successfully, so he’s the one that I am recommending to parliament for approval. We are pitting back petroleum and power to have one person head the various institutions.”
The Ministry of Power was created in 2014 by Ghana’s former President John Mahama, in the heat of the worsened power crisis.
Dr. Kwabena Donkor, MP for Pru East and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, was made the Minister of Power, but he resigned a year after he failed on his own promise to tackle the deepened power crisis at the time, christened ‘dumsor’.
At the time, the Office of the President explained that the new Ministry was to bring about a sharper focus on the generation, supply and efficiency of power to match the growth the economy was experiencing. With this new development, the former Ministry of Power is defunct, to make way for the Ministry of Energy, which will deal with both petroleum and power issues.
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