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Energy
crisis, not a partisan issue
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja
The clamor
to find blame for the energy crisis continues unabated.
Politicians are chomping at the bit to score political points
with it. And the discomfort created by the energy crisis is
gradually being churned by some to produce national discontent.
Indeed, the
news from Volta River Authority
(VRA) is not good. The water level at
Akosombo Dam as released on May 16, 2007 stood at 236.04 feet.
The minimum required to operate the dam efficiently is 240.00
feet. We have sunk below that minimum, hence the crisis and the
severe concerns.
But the
concerns should not be directed at finding blame at all cost;
especially to the detriment of the one lesson that has to be
learned: That collectively, we have brought ourselves to this
unsavory point in history.
Akosombo, as
it stands now as a power generator, was not planned to stand
alone. And this knowledge has been available over forty years
ago.
Since then,
there have been successions of administrations while the
population in Ghana has also grown from approximately 7 million
in 1966 to what can be conservatively placed at 20 million
today. One does not need an economist or a statistician to
explain the demand this growth entails for energy supply, so why
the hand wringing now?
To the most
reasonable, the consequence is clear. A national crisis has
been unleashed that is costly and dangerous to our economy and
social well-being. They will not, however, blame one
administration, particularly the current one.
Unfortunately, there are others who believe otherwise. They
think the energy crisis happened overnight and on cue and that
it has happened because the current administration is asleep at
the switch. The irony is that the real substantive effort to
improve the energy situation in recent times has been made under
the current administration.
In one
instance, it is the revival of the long standing Bue Dam
project. In the other, it is the signing of the contract in
2004 to complete the West African Gas Line project. The Bue
project has been dormant since the idea was broached during the
60s. In all, and as a country, we have had a minimum of 40
years to comfortably amend the energy situation for the better,
but we did nothing. The consequence of this neglect has now
caught up with us.
Those who
deliberately ignore the above, do so at the risk of undercutting
our national interest. The effort may serve some short term
sectarian purpose, but in the long term it will be hazardous to
our national well-being.
The pity is
the current administration has been deficient in stating its
case vigorously.
Energy Minister Mr Adda, for example, was asked recently in
Parliament to explain the administration’s plan to alleviate the
crisis. His response was that his government has allocated “an
amount of 300 billion to ECG under the
2007 budget … to install a three-phase power system to replace
the single-phase power at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo
Region….”
His response
leads one to wonder whether the problem is one of generation or
distribution. Inadequate generating capacity seems to be the
culprit here. Emphasis on the more astute aspect of the
administration’s plan, like the one to resuscitate the Bue Dam,
or the commissioning of the West Africa Gas line will make the
enunciation of the government’s efforts more cogent. It is such
omissions that hurt government’s strategy for recovery and
encourage skepticism among the willing.
And talking
about the skeptics, their argument, that Nigeria, a perennial
energy crisis victim, cannot be a supplier of power for Ghana,
must be shot down. It is a useless argument.
Ghana is
procuring natural gas from Nigeria. More than seventy-five
percent of this gas, a by-product of Nigeria’s petroleum
industry, is flared; meaning the product is constantly available
but wasted daily. It is this available product that Ghana has
contracted to buy from Nigeria, not her expertise at managing
power plants. .
In the case
of Bue, while the origin of the concept may not belong to the
current administration, its adoption constitutes a bold effort.
It is a continuation of a good idea and therefore laudable.
The Bue Dam
project implementation represents a reversal of the
unconstructive policy tendencies of past administrations; the
automatic rejection of development plans of previous
administrations regardless of their merit. This tendency has
produced its share of extraordinary waste. Being able to
recognize and use good ideas from past regimes, regardless of
ideological differences, is a tendency that must be encouraged
for its resourcefulness.
Kufuor’s
administration is the one pushing the long neglected Bue
project. Instead, some show their appreciation by attacking his
administration for the lingering energy crisis, as if there is
something special it can gain by allowing the situation to
deteriorate.
Others are
anxiously and honestly probing the government for solution. Mr.
Oteng Gyasi, president of the Association of Ghana Industries,
had asked the government to enunciate the programs it had to
bring the crises to an end. Of course, he was thinking of a
magic wand that would bring an abrupt end to the crisis.
Mr. Gyasi’s
concerns were well illustrated by the number of factory closings
and the resulting loss of jobs and productivity. But some
critics have also put their illustrations in more acerbic terms
than his.
Sadly, there
is something missing in most of the concerns shown so far; the
awareness that we, as a society, could have avoided the current
crisis years ago; that we are now faced with the consequence of
neglect, not the doings of one administration, that may last
over a period of years..
Asking only
questions in Parliament now will not end the crisis. If we have
better ideas or alternate plans, we must offer them now. If we
know of any new or cheap energy sources that we can tap
immediately, our civic obligation should be to inform the
government. For this writer, the Bue Dam, the gas pipeline, a
few complimentary dams and the harvesting of rain by every
household should do.
Over forty
years of doing nothing, but violently changing governments and
wasting ideas and then we wake up one morning to find ourselves
in the midst of a serious energy crisis and our response is to
point finger at an administration that has been in office for
six years. Can anything be more farcical?
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Washington, D.C, May 19, 2007
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