Dr. Gideon Boako
Dr Gideon Boako, Technical Economic Adviser to Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, says the assumptions being made by the opposition NDC that the NPP government has not made any gains in the energy sector are pure lies.
Earlier this week, Dr Bawumia made a comparative analysis of the government’s coronavirus efforts and how former President John Dramani Mahama handled the country’s power crisis during his era.
That triggered a challenge from the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Adam Mutawakilu, to the NPP administration to enumerate the gains it has made in the energy sector so far.
In his response, Dr Boako said the arguments made by the NDC MP were flawed.
“The Vice-President spoke to bring clarity on the matters raised by Mr Mahama and talk about the politicization efforts by Mr Mahama and the NDC just to derail the efforts that the government has been making. Sorry to say, here is the irresponsibility and the poverty in the arguments by Mr Mutawakilu. At the time, there was some semblance of stability in power, and Dr Bawumia said ‘you can’t take credit for dumsor’ because there were teething problems.
“So after April 2016, dumsor came again. He goes further to say that in 2013 the NDC reduced electricity tariffs by 25 per cent. This is a big untruth,” he said.
Dr Boako further explained that, in 2013, the NDC increased electricity tariffs by 78 per cent.
“They increased it by 28 per cent in 2014 and increased it by 59 per cent in 2015. In fact, for the entire four-year period of the rule of Mr Mahama, as the legitimate President of this country, there was never an occasion that electricity tariffs went down,” he said.
Intellectual dishonesty
According to Dr Boako, Mr Mutawakilu is well aware of the facts but has only decided to twist them for political equalisation.
“He came out today to lie that indeed electricity tariffs were reduced by 25 per cent in 2013. I cannot fathom why he could say that. It could only be out of unconscious incompetence or intellectual dishonesty. That is exactly what he is doing,” he said.
End of dumsor
Dr Boako also dismissed suggestions by the opposition party that the NDC government was responsible for relieving Ghanaians from the erratic power supply regime.
“Never in the history of the four-year period of Mr Mahama was electricity tariffs reduced. In fact, when we had dumsor and there was no electricity, instead of them to bring in measures to mitigate the sufferings of the people, they went ahead to increase electricity tariff. It was that same year Mr Mahama came to say that if you want power, pay more. Ghanaians have not forgotten about that. They should not lie to us today thinking that we have short memories and we will forget about that,” he stated.
He added that the NDC, while in the office, did nothing to tackle the power challenges that brought untold hardship on households and businesses.
He added: “We had ‘dumsor’ for four years, we never had any intervention or policy coming from the socialist acclaimed government, led by Mr Mahama, to cushion Ghanaians. That is the crux of the matter. That is why we are saying that between President Akufo-Addo and Mr Mahama, who can Ghanaians trust with their destinies that in times of crisis who can help them?”
