Hospitals, schools must pay for electricity – Power Minister

Power Minister Dr Kwabena Donkor says all tertiary institutions and hospitals must pay their electricity bills to ease pressure on government.

Dr Kwabena Donkor stated that these institutions generate huge funds and must be made to pay electricity from these funds.

His position contrasts that of the Education Ministry. Deputy Education Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has stated that government will continue to bear the cost of utilities in country’s educational centres.

Just this week, Vice Chancellors of Ghana informed various student leadership groups across the country that students in public institutions would be made to pay for electricity and water they use on campus.

SRC Presidents of various tertiary institutions revisited the issue on Tuesday, November 3 after Vice Chancellors of various institutions told them that the schools would be closed down if government or students failed to pay utility fees.

But Mr. Ablakwa told Joy News on Tuesday that government’s position on absorbing the utilities on campuses of public universities has not changed.

He says a meeting would be held to resolve the issue and come out with clear guidelines on the matter.

Before the meeting, Power Minister Dr Kwabena Donkor told Joy News’ Beatrice Adu that hospitals and tertiary institutions must be made to pay their bills.

“What do they use the halls for? Don’t they rent them out? Are they not taking money? Are they not generating huge IGFs? The question we should be asking what do they use these IGFs for,” he quizzed.

He, however, said there is a different methodology for the hospitals, stating that the Ministry of Finance will pay for critical facilities like the wards, laboratories and theatres and morgues in Government and Mission Hospitals.