The Ministry of Energy claims recent remarks by Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh regarding the issuance of a load-shedding timetable have been deliberately distorted by the Media to portray the Minister as an insensitive person.
Kofi Abrefa Afena, a spokesperson for the Energy Ministry, in a statement on March 26, affirmed that the minister’s stance reiterated the government’s dismissal of the necessity for a “load management timetable.”
According to him, this position, as indicated by the Electricity Company of Ghana, is based on ongoing efforts to address the root causes of the temporary power challenges.
Speaking to reporters at the inauguration of the New Patriotic Party campaign team in the Ashanti Region, the Energy Minister challenged critics to devise their timetable if they deemed it necessary.
But in a statement, the Energy Ministry stated that the Minister has “always been sensitive to the plight of the Ghanaian people and continues to ask for their forbearance, as has always been the case when challenges relative to power stability emerge.”
Below is the full statement.
The Ministry of Energy has taken notice of the spin around an interview granted Joy News by Energy Minister, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh on the margins of the inauguration of the New Patriotic Party’s Ashanti Regional Campaign Team last Sunday. The rather innocuous statements of the Minister as captured by the Interview have been distorted to portray him as being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians and thus, we wish to avert the minds of Ghanaians to the context of the Interview and clarify as follows:
1. The Minister dismissed the need for a load management timetable because in his view and as indicated by the Electricity Company of Ghana, the causes of the temporary power challenges are being addressed. The Minister in the clip said, “Addressing the issues is not an event” which is rightly so.
2. The Minister’s comparison of the current energy sector to the one under former President John Mahama, where Ghanaians reeled under pervasive ‘Dumsor’ for 4 years, comes on the back of recent similar calls in the media space by the NDC Flagbearer for a load management time table. This call, in the view of the Minister is borne out of the quest to score cheap political points. In fact, a careful listen of the interview will show that, the comparative template was set by the interviewer.
3. In the said clip, the Minister is clearly seen straining his voice because of the obviously noisy background, in order to be heard by his interviewer. This has unfortunately been misconstrued. Dr. Prempeh is known to be very media friendly.
4. The Honourable Minister has always been sensitive to the plight of the Ghanaian people and continues to ask for their forbearance, as has always been the case when challenges relative to power stability emerge.
5. The Ministry wishes to assure the general public that the Ministry as the policy maker and mother agency of the various power sector actors is working assiduously with these agencies to ensure that the temporary challenges are resolved.
