Incompetent NDC has no audacity to comment on energy issues - Abu Jinapor replies brother

Deputy Chief of Staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor has warned the opposition National Democratic Congress to stay away from commenting on issues of energy, MyNewsGh.com reports.

According to him, the National Democratic Congress demonstrated crass incompetence in managing the energy sector when they were in power, subjecting Ghanaians to a severe power crisis popularly known as ‘dumsor’.

“For a government which subjected us to four (4) consecutive years of DUMSOR, supervised the worse utility tariff regime and exhibited such extreme incompetence in the energy sector in particular, to have the temerity to, even, comment on energy matters is to, say the least, shocking.

They should learn to keep quiet as their record in government is the worse in the life of the Ghanaian people. Theirs was crass incompetence and insensitivity to the plight of our population. Let them learn to hold their peace as the little effusion from them, makes them sound ludicrous and reminds our countrymen and women of their unedifying period in government,” he wrote on Facebook.

Following government’s decision to cut back the cost of electricity for consumers outside the lifeline category by 50% and free for consumers within the lifeline category, some critics including a former Deputy Minister for energy John Jinapor have suggested the move will worsen the plight of Ghanaians.

In what appears to be a response to such an assertion, Samuel Abu Jinapor said the move by the government will rather cushion Ghanaians at a time more electricity is consumed at home following a lockdown.

He added that “Firstly, some ECG lifeline consumers are not under lockdown and all the lifeline consumers in the five northern regions are certainly not under lockdown. Undoubtedly, a large proportion of our citizens will enjoy FREE ELECTRICITY with most of them resident outside the lockdown areas and, happily, the northern parts of our country.

Secondly, assuming without admitting that the lockdown areas will consume more electricity due to the restrictions, a logic which is very weak anyway, and therefore will move out of the lifeline category, quite clearly, these consumers will still enjoy a subsidy or relief since they would have been worse off without the fifty percent (50%) absorption by government. They will still have had to pay the full cost of the so called increased consumption. Basic reasoning.”

About 1.2million customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana and about 569,364 are set to enjoy free electricity for the months of April, May and June.