A stitch in time...
The alarm bells have been ringing for a while in the energy sector. Over the past three editions of the Graphic Business we have had cause to be wary of the challenges in the energy sector as the mounting tasks may pose a much bigger tests in the not-too-distant future if not properly aligned.
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The latest red flag in the energy sector came from the visiting World Bank Managing Director in charge of Operations, Ann Bjerde, during her interactions with journalists just last week.
Hear her: “Once the problems are at the level Ghana has, if not arrested and addressed with an emergency action plan, things will get worse and this will cost the state more to keep the energy sector running at the time money is needed for other things”.
Not too long ago, the World Bank Country Director, Frank Laporte was equally blunt when he blurted out issues related to the signing of take-and-pay contracts that has bedevilled the economy with huge debts to the tune of US1.5 billion for which the country was still paying.
Perhaps the new breed of development partners have come to understand our challenges that unless one speaks out loud enough, you really would not get a hearing from the powers that-be, hence the need to cut out the diplomatic “niceties”.
So Ann and her colleagues are very direct or to put it diplomatically, frank to a fault. They, as analysts and experts, see beyond the numbers and hence are worried as well as businesses and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) operating in the sector. And every Ghanaian for that matter needs to be worried.
This is because we have lived it; Dumsor, and we detest it. We wished it was long past as we do not wish to recollect its pain and agony.
Indeed, we have reproduced an article on Page 18 of today’s edition, authored by the veteran Journalist, David Ampofo which was first published in 2017 pointing out the challenges that underlined the energy sector then.
It is interesting to know that six years on since the publication, the visiting World Bank makes the same analysis of the current issues facing the energy sector.
Issues that have to do with investments in the sector, recoveries from defaulting energy sector usage, power generation transmission and distribution challenges and the non-payment of arrears among many others.
Ann and David’s spot on analysis converges on one point- Actions rather than rhetorics. More precisely, decisive actions that would salvage us from yet another “Dumsor”. The writing is on the wall as these experts have highlighted.
In the current economic dispensation, where businesses “are pressed on all sides”, where individuals have seen their incomes eroded by high taxes and inflation, the least the government can do is to keep the lights on.
Graphic Business, therefore, wishes to add our voice to the numerous experts from academia, CSOs and development partners for a quick decision to address the many challenges facing this very important sector. We need a plan of action that will take into consideration that ECG is able to recover all losses, that transmission losses are minimal, and a plan that will migrate the current reliabilities on fossil oil to cheaper energy generation.
We have everything set to transit from the higher energy costs to cheaper energy sources. All we need is the political will to do so.