Private-sector cash should fund the Ketu Power Project - Not government

Apparently, consultants for the proposed 2,000 megawatt Ketu Power Project (KPP), Finite Earth Consult, led by a Mr. Mayor Agbleze, want the Ghana government to invest in their independent power producer (IPP) project.

Ghana's private sector cannot eat its cake and have it.

If we want the private sector to be the engine of growth, then let the private sector be creative enough, to raise cash for all the projects it dreams up.

If they are so sure of the success of the KPP, why does Finite Earth Consult not approach wealthy private investors, such as HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, of Kingdom Holding Company, who has the money, and has demonstrated his faith in Ghana, by investing in the Movenpick Hotel, to fund the KPP project?

Finite Earth Consult can also talk to Idan Heavey, the founder and CEO of Tullow Oil - who might have ideas that could be useful to the promoters of the KPP.

There are also sovereign wealth funds, such as those of Norway, Singapore and China, which invest in worthwhile projects. Why do the promoters of the KPP not approach some of them?

The golden age of business for crony-capitalists in Ghana is over.

With respect, the government of Ghana cannot be a bank of last resort for wealthy individuals - who cannot raise funds for their own projects.

Hapless Ghanaian taxpayers will no longer tolerate that, alas. For that reason, the government of Ghana should not invest In the Ketu power project.

Let the promoters of the Ketu power project focus on raising money to fund the project from the private-sector instead, to make it a 100 percent private-sector funded project - and set a worthy example to be emulated by the promoters of other private-sector projects in Ghana. A word to the wise...