Come out with entire debt portfolio in energy sector; Mutawakilu challenges Energy Minister

The Minority Spokesperson on Energy, Mr Adam Mutawakilu, has disputed the Minister of Energy’s claim that the government has settled its indebtedness to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) including the GH¢2.63 billion it inherited on assumption of office.

It has, therefore, challenged Mr John-Peter Amewu to come out with the whole portfolio of debts in the energy sector to allow Ghanaians know the status of debt in the energy sector.

“Currently, the ECG owes the Ghana Gas Company over $800 million and if you multiply $800 million by the exchange rate of GH¢5.5, that is over GH¢4 billion owed to one company. Besides, independent power producers have not been paid $1.26 billion,” it stated.

Cherry-picking

Speaking to the press in Parliament yesterday, Mr Mutawakilu, who is also the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee, said “the Minister of Energy did some cherry-picking analyses of the energy sector debts by picking debts of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies owed to the ECG and fuel supply to analyse the government’s performance in addressing the energy sector debts.

“What he refused to do was to pick the total energy sector debts including what debts the government inherited, what it had added and what debt is left. We, therefore, call on the minister to, as a matter of urgency, let Ghanaians know how much energy sector debt is left,” he stated.

Debt payment

Speaking at the bi-weekly press briefing on the national COVID-19 situation in Accra last Tuesday, Mr Amewu said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s administration made efforts to be current with payment of bills to the ECG, culminating in the payment of GH¢2 billion every year with an average monthly payment of GH¢100 million.

Total debt

Challenging the claims of settling debts to the ECG, Mr Mutawakilu said since 2015, former President John Dramani Mahama made it clear that the legacy debt from 1992 to 2015 was $2.4 billion.

He said with the introduction of the Energy Sector Levy, such debt dropped to $2.2 billion by the end of 2016.

“So before President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo came to power, he knew that the energy sector debt was $2.2 billion and this is made up of the government owing the ECG, suppliers, independent power producers, banks and others.

“So by just coming to pick one item to analyse it and saying that you are doing well cannot be used to measure your performance. We call on the Minister of Energy to tell us how much debt is left for Ghana to pay.

Mr Mutawakilu also asked the minister to tell Ghanaians what the government had accrued from the ESLA levy it inherited from former President Mahama.