The President last week pushed aside the Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission, Kofi Asante, to pave way for investigations into allegations of corruption levelled against him.
The charges included the chairman, and the Executive Secretary buying vehicles for themselves while there are none for use by technical officers, Mr. Asante gallivanting, leaving the commission with ¢800 million bill on foreign travels for last year alone, paying himself ¢30 million a month as rent allowance and spending ¢500 million on advertising.
But Asante has fought back, saying all the allegations were designed to ridicule the commission and divert attention from the work the commission has done for the country. Mr. Asante who single handedly edits the commission’s official Journal, Energy Review, has strong views which sometimes contradicts government’s policy.
The swift action taken by the government following allegations against Asante in some private newspapers, thanks to the work of some self-seeking ‘whistle blowers’ will go down as ‘extraordinary achievement’ of the Kufuor administration in positive change chapter two.
This is because similar media allegations against other top government officials have not received the same swift response from the president. Could this be a new approach by government to be seen to be acting seriously on such charges by the media and other groups?
But who gains or loses after the ubiquitous Asante was thrown out. No doubt, the energy policies of embattled Asante have earned the Energy Commission, some recognition and Ghana will be the worse for it. Under Kofi Asante’s leadership, the first ever National Strategic Energy Plan for the period 2000—2025 was outdoored a few weeks before he was ousted from office last week. A hundred copies of the Energy Plan which was due to handed to the Minister of Energy, Prof. Mike Ocquaye, on Wedenesday, May 11 before Asante was thrown out were handed over to the minister last Friday. As Asante put it in the note accompanying the 100 copies “nevertheless, the business of the State must continue.”
In the plan, four hydroelectric power dams are to be constructed by the year 2020 to help meet the country’s energy requirement.
The policy objectives of the expansion programme are to ensure security of electricity supply and to ensure universal access to affordable electricity service.
The dams include, the Bui Hydroelectric power dam, which is expected to be operational by year 2012, the Hemang and Juale hydroelectric power dams also expected to be completed by 2015 and the Pwalugu hydroelectric dam in the Upper East region expected to be fully operational by 2020.
The construction of these hydroelectric projects would be contributing towards meeting the long-term energy need of the country. Bui alone is expected to add about 17% of hydroelectric power to the Akosombo hydroelectric generation.
According to the Energy Commission, the hydroelectric power projects would help increase the level of domestic electricity generation resources and help cut back on imported natural gas.
Another important benefit to be derived from these hydroelectric projects is the job creation potentials. As stipulated in the National Strategic Energy Plan, about 543 permanent and non-permanent hands would be required for power plants construction for 2005-2008.
The projects are also expected to boost Ghana’s energy export potentials. Currently, the Akosombo generation station is also undergoing retrofitting and is expected to increase its installed capacity by about 108 MW to 1020MW by the end of 2005.
This is the first time a national energy plan has been drawn up and being implemented. But unfortunately, the brain behind, Asante, is out of the saddle. And the fear is that once Asante is out, the plan will be put on the shelves to gather dust. This is because past and present governments have a record of shelving development plans when the brains behind them are no more in office. When Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, his 15-year Development Plan was burnt to ashes. The same fate befell the 7-year Development Plan of the Busia government when he was overthrown in 1972.
The 2005 budget, presented to parliament confirmed some key policy initiatives contained in the National Strategic Plan launched by the Energy Commission.
The budget and the energy plan agree on the development of solar energy systems. It is expected that improvement in the sector would link educational institutions that are off the national grid to solar energy. Solar energy has been described by the commission as a renewable energy and is considered environmentally friendly. Again the budget and the energy plan converge on the West Africa Gas Pipeline Project. The Energy Commission has recognized the WAGP, which the budget sees as critical to meeting the energy requirements of the country. By the energy commission’s estimation, the WAGP should be completed latest by December 2006. Unfortunately, the brain behind these good policies is out.
Even though the budget is silent on the specifics, it partly collaborates the commission’s position, as it indicates that the WAGP would be completed within 24 months after the start of the construction and would be delivering gas to Aboadze within the 24-month period.
However, the energy commission has cautioned that although the WAGP is a strategic infrastructure, there are problems and challenges the project poses. Mr. Asante has put up a fierce campaign against the terms of the WAGP, which he suggested need to be renegotiated.
First, the commission states that the gas to be delivered by the WAGP is flared and thus produces greenhouse gas, which is responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer.
Another important element the commission expresses reservation on is the cost. The commission holds the view that if Aboadze’s capacity is not enhanced, the cost of gas could equal that of fuel.
In the WAGP agreement, Ghana is to pay about $88 million a year for gas supply. This, in the commission’s view, would yield only marginal savings with cost of electricity generated almost equaling that of oil based electricity. The commission therefore argues that the benefits should be more substantial for Ghana to dole out scarce resources into such a venture. There are rumours that Mr. Kofi Asante’s outspoken views/reservations about the WAGP project could be a remote factor in his current predicament. The allegations in the media were the immediate cause. This is the bane of many public servants who have dared to defend the national interest.
Obviously, precautions must be taken to protect such pricey ideas of people like Mr. Kofi Asante on critical areas like energy for national development.
The Associate Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, Dr. Baffour Agyemang Duah, is forthright in arguing that
the issue goes beyond Kofi Asante and the energy Commission, but is a larger problem of how public boards and commissions are governed in Ghana. In the view of Dr. Agyemang Duah, if Ghanaians do not learn to appreciate good stewardship, many well-meaning people and Ghanaian experts will back away from taking public appointments. Kofi Asante’s plight is an eye opener.
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