Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament Dr Kwabena Donkor has torn Ghana’s energy policy to shreds and has criticised the seeming over reliance on Nigeria for gas supply.
At a round table discussion on the challenges facing the energy sector organized by the Institute of Green Growth Solutions the NDC MP was highly critical of the decision to rely on Nigeria for gas.
Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo reported the MP as saying it is “mentally retarding” for the leadership of the country to rely on Nigeria, a volatile region – for gas. This ‘mentally retarding’ explanation, he said has been sold to Ghanaians through a mass media he also criticised as “intellectually lazy”.
“How many times have we not known that this supply is unreliable? Since when has gas supply from Nigeria been reliable? It has historically been unreliable. And the least you can do in planning is to plan with the fact that gas from Nigeria cannot be depended upon so let’s look at alternatives”, the frustrated MP emphasized.
With Ghana expecting to produce gas from the Atuabo infrastructure, many, including President John Mahama have assured Ghanaians that the erratic power supply the country is currently enduring will soon be a thing of the past when the Atuabo gas comes on stream.
But Dr. Donkor believes that can only be a statement made in deceit. He explained the Atuabo gas is inadequate and cannot be the panacea to Ghana’s precarious energy crisis.
Pointing to a government promise to produce 5000 megawatts of power by end of 2017, Dr. Donkor said that is not ambitious enough.
He said Ghana should be looking at 10,000 megawatts of power in 10 years if other sources of generation are comprehensively explored.
Dr. Donkor said Ghana must aggressively search for other alternatives in its bid to increase the amount of power generated.
He argued vehemently for the coal alternative to be explored.
He said that option is relatively cheaper as compared to the gas-thermal combination.
Ghana has been saddled with erratic power supply for the past few years with both residential and commercial users complaining.
Government has assured it is working assiduously to remedy the challenge but critics appear not to be impressed with the lack of urgency and the actions being taken by government.
