Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Benjamin Boakye, is expecting the Energy Minister-designate to focus on two key areas in the sector to bring improvement.
He has also expressed hope that the Minister-designate delivers once he is approved by Parliament, considering the experience he has gained over the years.
Having served as Ranking Member on the Energy Committee of Parliament and spokesperson for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Energy for past eight years, Mr. Boakye says the Minister-designate is fully endowed with the challenges with the sector and hopes he finds the solutions to them as soon as possible.
John Abdulai Jinapor, the Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu, was named as the Minister-designate for Energy with two others for other positions on Thursday, January 09, 2025.
Mr. Jinapor served as Deputy Minister of Power in the previous NDC administration which Ben Boakye believes has exposed him to the sector for the wherewithal to solve the prevailing challenges within the energy spectrum.
Speaking with Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight on TV3 Thursday, January 09, 2025, the ACEP boss advised that Jinapor finds immediate solution to the distribution challenge by paying critical attention to activities of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
He also advised the legislator to devise means of securing investment to the upstream sector to raise more funds since investment has dropped over the years.
Boakye also added that he was sure the Minister-designate will hit the ground running to ensure the incessant challenges bedeviling the sector is cured.
“He has shown understanding of the sector and its challenges. We’ve had the opportunity to discuss it on many occasions. He sees with the facts and the realities of the sector so we can only hope that he will be able to deliver.
“So, if he is able to have a collaborative Minister for Finance to quickly tackle the Energy sector challenges, they should be able to address it. And I’m hoping that he will hit the ground running, focusing on the challenges, particularly, those that have to do with the distribution –ECG –and also the upstream sector where investment have declined over the years and also have the means to drive investment and bring money to the country to solve our challenges because the upstream could also bring money to solve our fiscal problems,” he stated.
He expressed further that resolving the downstream challenge of fixing the ECG will save the government some stress of having to pump money into the sector all the time.
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