Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Prof. Domwini Dabire Kuupole, has stated that there is no need for governments to continue setting up ministries with different names to deal with power and energy issues in the country.
According to him, the country has not benefitted from these ministries by past and present governments in any way since they have failed to tackle the on and off energy crisis the country has been faced with since 1983.
“There is a lot of waste in the creation of these ministries as they have not brought on board any meaningful policies or ideas to redeem the country from energy crisis in past years,” he stated.
Along this line he rather called for the creation of a permanent technical division or secretariat made up of technocrats with expertise on energy and power to redeem the country from future energy crisis.
The VC said this during the second experts’ forum organised by the UCC branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) in Cape Coast recently.
The forum, which was on the theme “Sustainable and Integrative Approach to solving the perennial energy crisis: issues of production and alternative sources, distribution and consumption,” was to create a platform for knowledge-sharing and discussion of ideas by experts for consideration by government.
Prof. Kuupole reiterated that the creation of a technical division will assemble the best brains that will see to the effective planning and implementation of policies devoid of any partisanship to effectively handle energy issues in the country.
“This will save the country from future [energy] crisis since governments past and present have been battling with the recurring crisis over the past 32 years with no solution,” he stated.
He commended UTAG for organising the forum saying “it’s about time those of us in the academia focus our attention on such topics to find alternative solutions to the problem.”
The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey, also reiterated the need for politicians to allow the experts and professionals to think out solutions for them to implement their professional ideas in solving the energy crisis.
He pointed out that the country is at the bottom of the energy challenge and called for more work to be done to increase power generation to better manage the crisis.
An energy expert from the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, in his recommendation for effective power supply charged government to pay its debts to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) so as to enable them also pay debts they owe other power generators such as the VRA and GRIDCo.
Dr. Ackah also recommended an independent, firm and a fair PURC which will give equal attention to quality of service and tariff rates as well as the prosecution of management who misappropriate funds instead of transferring them to enable the state retrieve more money for power generation.
The President of UCC UTAG, Prof. Kwame Osei Kwarteng, explained that even though the energy situation seems to have improved, his outfit thought it wise to come out with a theme like this for the forum to help find possible solutions since it has been recurring between every eight to ten years in the country.
<<Print>>