Member of Parliament (MP) for Bongo constituency and a member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Edward Abambire Bawa, has criticised the Energy Minister Matthew Opoku Premphe for calling the bluff of Ghanaians asking for a load-shedding timetable to be published.
Bawa characterised the behaviour of the Akufo/Bawumia regime as that of a monarch.
Speaking to Alfred Ocansey, host of TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Monday, March 25, on the back of the minister’s comments, he stated, “It is just one of the issues about how this government seems to be treating Ghanaians”, adding, “They think that they have the right to rule and they behave with the mentality of a monarch”.
The Energy Minister, whilst responding to reporters on the current state of power supply in the country and the calls for a load-shedding timetable to be released, remarked, “Ask those who want it to bring it.”
The comments by the minister have since received widespread backlash, raising concerns about calling the bluff of Ghanaians, including the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), which first directed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to publish a load-shedding timetable.
According to Bawa, the current government seems to think that its source of power is divine and does not respect the views and concerns of the general public.
“They think that their source of power is divine and that the rest of us can go to hell irrespective of how we feel. It is just not insensitivity, it is disrespect”, the Bongo lawmaker told Alfred Ocancey.
Energy Minister Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh says those calling for a load-shedding timetable should release one themselves.#NewsCentral pic.twitter.com/tVCM1H6dHj
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) March 25, 2024
Meanwhile, the sector minister has questioned the motives of those demanding a load-shedding timetable.
“Why do you want to bring a timetable? For what purpose? Why would somebody get up and wish evil or bad for the country?” he asked the reporters.
However, according to Mr. Bawa, Ghanaians have every right to demand the services they require from those who lead them, indicating that not all Ghanaians will have the opportunity to be ministers.
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“If the energy sector has challenges and the rest of us are the people who expect some particular level of service from them and if those services have not been met and we ask that even if you cannot give me the service, give me when the service is not available so I can plan my life around it, you don’t describe me as somebody who wishes evil for this country”, said the Bongo lawmaker.
Meanwhile, the PURC directive to the ECG last week, amongst other orders, directed the power distributor to publish a “load management timetable” to correspond with the timelines and duration for each transformer injection.
But the power distributor insisted that there’s no Dumsor, so there is no need for a power rationing schedule.