President John Dramani Mahama has sacked the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana, Rev. Ing. William Hutton Mensah, who presided over one of the worst forms of energy crisis in the country.
A statement signed by the Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani, appointed Robert Dwamena as Acting Managing Director of the service provider.
The appointment of Mr. Dwamena, the Director of Procurements at the ECG, who started his career with the Engineering Directorate of the Company in 1982, is expected to inject some new lease of life into the company.
The former Managing Director, William Hutton-Mensah, who is on his annual leave, is to report to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum for re-assignment.
Ghana’s energy sector has been bedeviled with the inability of power producers to meet demand. The current state of the sector dates back to 1982, when drought resulted in a decrease in capacity from the Akosombo Dam, the main power plant. The situation got better in 1986, recurred in 1994, 1998, 2006 and has been worsening since 2010.
In the past 15 years, Ghana has added about 1,000 megawatts (MW) of thermal generation capacity. As a result, Ghana’s current generation capacity of 2,125 MW is made up of about 50% hydro and 50% thermal plants. Nevertheless, inadequate and unreliable power supply remains a major constraint to future economic growth. It is estimated that Ghana requires capacity additions of about 200MW to catch up with increasing demand in the medium to long term. Ghana’s total installed capacity is 2884.5MW but electricity supplied doesn’t meet demand resulting in the ongoing power crisis, called dumsor.
Meanwhile, President Mahama has also appointed the Omanhene of Abeadze and President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, Daasebre Kwebu Ewusi VII, to act as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ECG.
His appointment follows the resignation of Tony Oteng Gyasi on health grounds.
The country has been going through a serious power crisis, resulting in an intensive load shedding exercise, incurring the wrath of consumers.
