Political
parties going into Ghana’s 2016 General Election will need to prioritize issues
of energy if they are to get the mandate of the electorates to govern.
That
is the consensus of a forum on the ‘Citizen Agenda for Energy Sector
Development’ held in Kumasi, which attracted industry players, civil society
groups, students and the media.
Ghana’s
power crisis has over the past five years damaged the country’s economic growth
prospects – businesses have collapsed, jobs lost and livelihoods negatively
impacted.
Meanwhile,
petroleum exploration in the past three-and-half years has generated some
Gh3.5billion in revenue, and more revenue is expected with the coming of stream
of the TEN and Sankofa projects.
Yet
there have been concerns about the prudent management and investment of revenue
from the oil and gas sector.
As
electioneering 2016 heats up, energy will be an important area of interest,
observed Seji Saji of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP).
“The
petroleum sector of our country has become so intertwined with our national
lives that the wishes of our people will be unfulfilled if we do not make
energy an important issue in this year’s election,” he stated.
ACEP,
with
support from the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG), has therefore set
forth a process to engage the public on priority areas in the power and
petroleum sectors to inform political parties’ manifestoes in Election 2016.
The
discussions to collate public inputs, taking place in the Northern, Ashanti and
Western regions, will form the basis of the Citizen’s Energy Manifesto.
Some
participants of the citizens’ forum in Kumasi said they will be interested in
knowing the management and investments of oil revenue as well as plans of the
various political parties to deal with the power crisis.
President
of the Ghana Association of Energy Economics, Joshua Sarpong Kumankumah, is
interested in seeing some of the energy levies removed on petroleum products as
soon as possible.
“I
also think our political parties must be bold enough and have in their
manifestoes to protect the interest of the energy sector by ensuring that it is
not privatized; as it happened to SIC and as it happened to GOIL, I think
government can float shares for Ghanaians to own ECG,” he said.
Acting
Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Eric
Amoadu-Boateng, said the Union continues to oppose the privatization of
state-owned enterprises, including the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
He
said recent past experience in the water sector demands caution in the government’s
move for private sector involvement in the distribution of power.
“We
must be guided by history,” said Mr. Amoadu-Boateng. “It appears that the
Millennium Development Authority (MIDA) is unduly influencing the debate; it’s
about time that issues of national sovereignty are decided by the people and
not Washington-influenced technocrats”.
Head
of Policy Unit at ACEP, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, said the ‘Citizen Agenda for Energy
Sector Development’ project will serve as an instrument for building political
consensus of policies in the energy sector.
The
“Citizens Energy Manifesto” will be presented to presidential
candidates of political parties, who will be expected to declare their
commitments to the citizens’ energy agenda.
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