Power crisis not totally over — Prez
President John Dramani Mahama has observed that the country is not out of its power crisis yet, but says the situation is better than it used to be.
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He said the crisis appeared to have been prolonged by challenges of gas supply from Nigeria to feed the country’s thermal plants, a situation which had led to the shutdown of the Asogli Power Plant.
Addressing a breakfast meeting attended by the Clergy and some members of the Council of Christian Churches in Kumasi yesterday, President Mahama said the high cost of producing thermal power accounted for the recent increase in electricity tariffs.
He was, however, hopeful that power consumers would enjoy some relief in electricity tariffs from Friday, July 1, 2016.
President Mahama, who was on the final leg of his “Accounting to the people” tour of the Ashanti Region, expressed the hope that there would be more rains to increase the water level in the Akosombo Dam to improve on hydropower generation to augment thermal production.
Currently, Akosombo is operating below its minimum water capacity of 240 ft, but the President was optimistic the situation would improve.
President Mahama touched on three key areas: power, stabilisation of the economy and infrastructure at the breakfast meeting.
He said Ghana was not an island but operated within the global village and, therefore, it was important that its challenges and successes were analysed within the context of the uncertainty and unpredictability in the world.
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Taxes
President Mahama said his administration had put in place structural reforms aimed at bringing down expenditure and stabilising the economy.
President Mahama said per the reforms, the government had been able to reduce expenditure from 73 per cent of its revenue to 49 per cent, but was still working hard to bring it further down to
the required 35 per cent.
Some members of the Clergy
The President said the various stringent measures initiated by the government were intended to put Ghana on a sound footing and to achieve its estimated eight per cent growth rate by 2017.
Media
The President took a swipe at the media for trumpeting only the negative and gloomy developments of the country, as though there was no hope for Ghana.
He said much as he would want to deepen media freedom, it was only fair for the media to present balanced reports so that the people could make informed decisions.
He said rather than inviting representatives of political parties to comment on every issue, it would be prudent and beneficial for the media to invite experts to speak on issues.
The President urged the Clergy to strike a balance between physical and spiritual needs and use their pulpit to explain government issues to members of their congregations.
Later, the President inspected a 120-bed hospital at Fomena and also cut the sod for the construction of a 10,000-seating multi-purpose stadium at New Edubiase.