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A former Energy Minister under the erstwhile Kufuor government has lashed out at government over its failure to manage the economy following news of mounting government debts.
In Joseph Kofi Adda’s view, President Mahama and his National Democratic Congress have done nothing but run down the economy since taking over in 2009.
According to him, if revenue accrued from gold, cocoa, oil and other exports were managed properly, Ghana will not be saddled with huge debts although government has maintained that huge drop in prices of exports products last year has dwindled its revenue.
Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show ‘Dwaso Nsem’, Mr Adda said “the only creative policy that I know…if we call it policy from NDC is stealing and stealing and stealing and corruption”.
This week, news about Ghana’s indebtedness to Nigeria Gas to a tune of $180 million has sparked outrage among sections of the public. The gas company also threatened to cut gas supply to Ghana if it does not “hear something satisfactory” from Ghana government.
The West African Gas Pipeline Company, (WAPCo) will cut supply to the Volta River Authority (VRA) by Friday if the latter fails to pay debts owed it.
After almost a year keeping quiet about the problem, the foreign managers of WAPCo are now taking government to task and they are doing it publicly.
A high powered delegation made from the Ministries of Power and Finance have flown to Nigeria to negotiate payment terms.
But Mr Adda under whose government the country also experienced an energy crisis in 2007, says the only these debts can be settled is for government to prioritize its expenditure and reduce excess spending.
Although he acknowledges that electricity consumers are not paying appropriate tariffs, he believes even the little that is being collected is mismanaged.
“It is all a matter of government priorities, if you keep employing more and more people into NADMO so that you can get votes and you don’t have money with the Finance Ministry to meet the monthly pay of all these workers…so there’s a big question as to where all that money is going to…all that money that is being collected by way of our electricity tariffs”, he said.
He advocated for a mass demonstration across the country if government fails to settle the debts and the country is plunged into darkness.
“All Ghanaians should rise up and go to the streets, it is not just the musicians who went to the streets to say that they were affected, it is not just the people who went out there to do a dumsor demonstration.
“I think all Ghanaians should now get up and walk straight to the Flagstaff House and say Mr President you and your team are not managing the system well, we think it is about time that you step aside and let a better management team to come and handle this nation”, he added.
This, if done, Mr Adda sternly believes will bring an end to the unbearable economic crisis Ghana has been plunged into.
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