Josiah
Herbert Krapa, Ghana’s former Minister of Energy, has refuted claims of imminent load shedding and called on the newly elected NDC government to focus on effectively managing the power sector instead of attributing potential challenges to the outgoing administration.
In response to statements by John Jinapor, co-chairman of the Transition Team’s subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Krapa dismissed allegations that Ghana’s fuel supply is critically low and could lead to widespread power outages.
“Mr. Jinapor is mistaken. Load shedding does not simply ‘loom’; it arises from either technical issues, emergency power generation challenges, or poor sector management. It seems Mr. Jinapor is clearly grappling with the latter,” Krapa stated.
During a January 7 interview, Mr. Jinapor accused the outgoing Akufo-Addo administration of mishandling the power sector, claiming the country had only five hours of fuel supply left for electricity generation, potentially leading to load shedding.
Mr. Krapa countered by asserting that the Akufo-Addo government ensured a stable fuel supply for key power plants before leaving office.
“At the time we exited, President Akufo-Addo’s administration had secured stocks of light crude oil, currently being used by Cenpower for electricity generation, while AKSA continued to receive deliveries of heavy fuel oil for the same purpose,” he explained.
He urged the new administration to take responsibility by procuring additional liquid fuel to supplement gas supply as needed and to plan effectively to avoid disruptions in power supply. “We managed it successfully, and they can do the same—if they have the competence,” Krapa concluded.
