John Jinapor, a former Deputy Minister of Power, has refuted allegations that the previous Mahama administration was responsible for signing power purchase agreements that cost Ghana over $320 million.
The accusations were made by Samuel Atta Kyea, the Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, at a press conference on Wednesday, June 14. He said that the NDC signed 43 take-or-pay power purchase agreements, which forced the current government to pay over $320 million in 2018 for power that was not used.
However, John Jinapor rejected these claims in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM. He said that the NPP also contributed to the losses in the energy sector.
He said that ECG losses increased from 23 percent to 31 percent under the NPP government, and that this was not due to excess capacity, but to power delivered. He also said that there was a statutory power reserve margin of 20 percent, which the NPP government decided not to include in the tariff structure.
The MP for Yapei-Kusawgu also attributed the problem to forex losses, exchange rate differentials, and unnecessary political interference, rather than what Mr. Atta Kyea claimed.
He said that former president Mahama could not be blamed for this situation, and that the NPP government renewed some of the PPAs for 15 years instead of five years. He said that he would not allow these double standards to go unchallenged.
He also challenged Mr. Atta Kyea to provide evidence for his claim that Mahama signed 43 take-or-pay power purchase agreements. He said that some of the agreements were not signed by Mahama.
