Money Is Partly To Blame For Dumsor – Deputy Power Minister

Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor

Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor has admitted that money is partly to blame for the excruciating power challenges Ghanaians have endured for years now. He stressed that nobody in government has ever said that scarce resources constraints are not partly responsible for the power rationing. Mr. Jinapor, however, dismissed suggestions that finance is the only problem. “There is a lot of erroneous impression going out there. Nobody has said that the problem is not financial why would the PURC talk of tariff increases,” he queried “It is because there is an element of a financial problem but the problem is not solely financial. It’s a multiplicity of factors...it is a complex situation and so you cannot just say that it’s solely finance," he added. He said planning is partly responsible for the power crisis, saying "even if you have all the money, you simply cannot go and buy gas today, it takes planning."

Supporting his argument, Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, said with all the money in the world, one would not be able to get the Bui Dam Power Project to produce power at full capacity. He said the same applies to the Akosombo Dam which cannot be made to generate power at full capacity no matter how much money is available.

The Member of Parliament for Simon Osei Mensah, replied Dr. Boamah by insisting if government had the money to buy crude oil or gas to power the existing thermal plants to produce power, the current situation would not obtain. He said government is not spending money to buy crude because it is expensive.