Sophia Gifty Awortwe (with mic), a Council Member, CSU, being assisted by Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye (2nd from left) to cut the 50th anniversary cake of the CSU. Lending hands include Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum (2nd from right partly covered), Education Minister, Prof. Samuel Kofi Afrane (left), the V.C. of CSU, and Seth Osafo (right), Chairman of Council, CSU. Picture: EMMANUEL BAAH

Let's harness solar power to help end 'dumsor' — Prof. Mike Oquaye

Emmanuel Baah Oct - 08 - 2024 , 09:57

A Former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has stressed the need to harness the full potential of solar to generate enough energy to power the country.

"The way Africa is dealing with the natural resources God has freely endowed us with is very tragic.

"God gave us the sun but our application of the sun is a sad story. If we can produce the solar energy which the Netherlands produces, ‘dumsor’ will belong to the archives", he said.

A recent BBC report indicates that solar energy production in the Netherlands is higher than the whole of Africa (BBC, Tuesday June 11, 2024).

Prof. Oquaye was speaking at an "Anniversary Project" event of the Christian Service University (CSU) in Kumasi, as part of the institution’s 50th anniversary celebration.

The project is a cost-cutting measure aimed at reducing the university’s dependency on the national grid as well as the cost of electricity.

He commended the university for its ambition to generate alternative power supply system for uninterrupted academic work.

National dialogue

Prof. Oquaye further urged academia to call for a national conference on all natural resources and come out with recommendations of best practices.

"This is the way to go to avoid ever going back to the IMF. This goes beyond politics, it is a think-tanking", he said.

The former university lecturer also commended the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, for including a solar energy policy in the party’s 2024 manifesto, adding "academia, industry and the government can work on this. It is possible".

He said if the vision was realised, coupled with the Vice-President’s digitalisation drive, it would help to open up more job opportunities for the youth.

India support

Prof. Oquaye, who was also a former Ambassador to India, said the Indian government had supported the Ministry of Energy to undertake a mini-hydro exploration where 22 rivers were identified.

He said the project included a reversible technology where the water would be recoverable for irrigation purposes.

“I was delighted to see that in late 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo commissioned one of the mini-dams around Hohoe, in the Volta Region,” Prof. Oquaye said.

On solar energy, he said, India initiated a global alliance in 2018, where Ghana was a member.

Educational transformation

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said the government was working to transform the educational fortunes of the country.

He said policies being rolled out by the ministry were all geared towards ensuring good outcomes in the sector for accelerated development.

The minister mentioned the introduction of the double-track system, which, he said, was aimed at increasing enrolment.

Dr Adutwum said in the next academic year, 70 per cent of SHS students in the country would be out of the double-track system following the construction of school infrastructure across the country.

The Asafohene, Asafo Boakye Agyeman Bonsu, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, also lauded the university for the initiative.