The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) must improve its efficiency, a former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei, said.
He said this while providing the government with ideas on how to tackle the current power challenges.
He has asked the government to invest heavily in solar energy by removing duties on imported solar panels.
“So the first thing is that if there are bottlenecks which are not allowing us to use the existing capacity to the fullest, they must be addressed. But in the long run, we must have a national strategic agenda.
“You can go solar, immediately the government should allow all solar panels and anything to do with it import duty-free because in the end the country and the government will win. We must have a strategy to make sure that we have a long-term solution,” he told TV3’s Beatrice Adu in an interview on Monday, April 22.
Prof Adei however has said that the current power outages are not as severe as the erratic power supply (Dumsor) experienced under the Mahama administration.
Nonetheless, he said, if the current situation is not dealt with appropriately the challenge will escalate.
“The power crisis is not as bad as the Dumsor days but if we don’t take care it will only get worse,”
Dumsor Politics and Election 2024: The power crisis is not as bad as the Dumsor days. Prof. Stephen Adei, Educationist/Economist#GhanaTonight pic.twitter.com/3DoCCtFN2F
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) April 23, 2024
Also commenting on the energy situation, the Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah admitted that the power outages in parts of the country are frustrating.
However, he said, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the challenge.
Mr Ahiagbah attributed the situation to the maintenance work being carried out by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
He assured that the work will soon be completed.
“The recent power outages have been understandably frustrating. However, there is an end in sight. The maintenance works are almost complete, and we can soon expect access to an uninterrupted power supply around the clock, as we have become accustomed to under the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia Administration.”
Regarding the criticism the members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have made against the government over the outages, he said “The NDC is the last political organization to point fingers because Ghana has not forgotten the hurts of the ‘real dumsor,’ suffered under H.E. Mahama.