…In the midst of light-offs

The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei has given hints that utility tariffs will go up, latest by August this year. Speaking at the Consultative Group meetings held in Accra on Monday, Dr. Akoto Osei announced that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) will come out with new tariffs by August 1st or earlier. He was quick to add that there will be targeted subsidies for the poor.

Much of the two-day consultative discussion which was on human resource development was focused on the energy crisis currently facing the country. The impact of the crisis was felt deep when the lights went off in the middle of a national anthem to welcome President John Kufuor to the closing ceremony of the Conference. "Our number one challenge is the welcome given me by the light off," the President himself said when he mounted the podium to speak about the future prospects and challenges of the country.

The energy crisis is bedeviling our efforts," the president said and described the news about oil found in the Western Region of the country as "God sent." He said it should be a blessing and not a curse to the country. "Government will devise all means, including institutional to solve the problem." President Kufuor also said the government has been working to get on top of the energy crisis, saying the discovery of oil did not come by accident.

On assuming office in 2001, President Kufuor said his government restructured the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) to concentrate on its core business of oil exploration. He said aside the agreement with China for $600 million loan to construct the Bui Hydro Dam in the northern part of the country, government is looking at other sources of energy, including solar and biodiesel.

President Kufuor also said Africa today is thinking about a project in the Congo basin region that could supply electricity to the whole continent with even exports to other parts of the world. "Our partners should help us get on top of the energy crisis," he said. Last Wednesday, the Speaker of Parliament suspended a debate on energy as Member of the House threw invectives at each other. “The energy crisis that hit the country has forced many manufacturing enterprises to acquire their own power generating plants at great cost.