NDC deserves to be in opposition for the next 24 years – Gabby Otchere-Darko

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party, has cast doubts over the competence of the opposition National Democratic Congress’ to effectively run the affairs of the State after the shambolic performance of the John Mahama administration, ABC News can report.

The legal practitioner averred that based on the mismanagement of the Mahama government and their lack of tact in dealing with dumsor, which further plunged the country’s already delicate energy sector into a serious crisis, the NDC deserves to be in opposition for at least 24 years.

Gabby Otchere-Darko pointed out that the unreasonable take-or-pay contracts signed by the Mahama government, using dumsor as an alibi, has compelled the Akufo-Addo government to dish out almost $500 million annually for unused power.

In a Facebook post sighted by ABC News in which he expressed his disappointment in the opposition for crying foul that the Akufo-Addo government chose to put the national interest above aid $190 million from the U.S. government.

The NPP stalwart retorted, “I heard the NDC complaining about Ghana losing $190m (or even potentially more) from the USA over the ECG concession issue, when by their misdeeds we are throwing away $500m a year for power we don’t use. Thanks to this same Mahama NDC and the power purchase agreements they signed, total capacity charges for the IPPs annually is around $850m”

“Yet, on average we use less than 40% of all that power! This is what puts the amount we spend annually for excess capacity (what we pay but don’t use) at $500m! The curse of unbridled take-or-pay deals with Govt that used the excuse of dumsor to create another crisis. With deals like this, I guess we should rather have put the NDC Govt out on an OSP (Opposition Sector Participation) concession for at least 24 years!” he wrote on his wall.

To resolve the challenges posed by the excess generation of power by Independent Power Producers, Gabby Otchere-Darko announced advanced plans by the government to meet and renegotiate the terms of the deals with the various stakeholders.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has indicated the commitment of the government to this process by inaugurating a Committee to resolve the excess capacity issues and save the country millions of dollars that can be invested in other areas.

“In related news, today the Minister of Finance inaugurated the Energy Sector Recovery Programme Steering Committee to help drive the collaborative consultation process between Government and each Independent Power Producer in an effort to resolve the excess capacity issues the NDC created and left behind.

The objective of these crucial negotiations is to find a fair outcome for all stakeholders, investors, government and consumers. Another worthy effort by Akufo-Addo to clear another legacy mess by Mahama,” the Facebook post concluded.