Ministry lacks competence to cost nation’s power outages – Minister

The Ministry of Power says it lacks the qualified personnel to assess the economic cost of the current power outages.

Dr Kwabena Donkor, the Sector Minister, in a written answer addressed to Mr Boniface Gambila Adagbila, Member of Parliament for Nabdam, said: “The Ministry of Power lacks the competence to quantify the loss.”

Mr Adagbila sought to know whether there have been attempts to quantify the losses to the national economy of the electricity outages for 2012, 2013, and January to September 2014.

Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, First Deputy Speaker, who presided over the proceedings, said a question by the Nabdam Legislator was marked written and that a verbal answer to the question was not to be admitted on the floor of the House to pave the way for follow up questions.

The Business Committee contends that Mr Adagbila, in submitting his question requested for a written answer in accordance with Standing Order 64(4) of the House.

Dr Donkor said the Ministry was aware that some work in that area had been done by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Centre for Economic Policy Analysis, Statistical Services and the National Development Planning Commission.

In an interview with Ghana News Agency, Mr Adagbila said he was disappointed with the response.

He said the response indicated lack of performance management by government in the power sector and suggested that the Ministry should establish a department to train and develop staff to do the necessary quantification in power economics.

“I am trying to put them on their toes to work efficiently and effectively to bring out the figures to assist investors to know the extent the power outages have affected the economy and to attract the needed investment into the power sector,” Mr Adagbila said.

Source: GNA