The Minority in Parliament has accused the Energy Minister-designate, Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, of alarming the public on the fuel situation in the country with misleading information.
According to the caucus, Dr. Jinapor announced to the public that the fuel stock left for the country as at the time the NDC administration took over from the NPP could not last the nation beyond two days.
The comments by the Yapei-Kusawgu lawmaker suggested the nation was going to face power outages also known as ‘dumsor’, as a result of shedding load for the unavailability of fuel to power the energy plants.
At a press conference organised by the MPs in Parliament Wednesday, January 15, 2025, the Tano North lawmaker, Dr. Gideon Boako, who addressed the media indicated that, although the new administration has not purchased any fuel since assuming office, there has been power from January 07 till now.
He says the Minister-designate “shifted his narrative” when he appeared before the Appointments Committee, and was asked about the comments he made.
“Regarding fuel supply for power generation, the nominee previously alarmed the nation by claiming that the previous government left us with only five hours of fuel.
“He stated, “I have bad news for you; just today, the confirmation we are getting is that we have only 5 hours of fuel stock. If you look at heavy fuel oil and distillate fuel, we don’t have up to 2 days. In two days’, time, we are likely to run out of fuel. This administration has not ordered any fuel as we speak. It takes on average, 4 weeks for the fuel to arrive and 4 weeks for the fuel to be treated. We are in a very serious situation,” Dr. Boako quoted Jinapor.
He explained further that, “when pressed for clarification, he shifted his narrative, specifying that he was referring only to Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) for AKSA and light crude oil for Sunon Asogli.”
“This is misleading, as it disregards the fact that CenPower had sufficient light crude oil reserves to last for 23 days, and that the procurement of fuel for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) is an ongoing process,” he stated.
Gideon Boako bemoaned the narrative, highlighting its negative ramifications on the business community and the general public. He questioned why the nation has not experienced power outages if Jinapor’s comments were anything to go by.
“Such inconsistencies only serve to sow confusion and panic within the business community and the public. The question we ask is: it has been more than 2 days; why is the light not off?” he quizzed.
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