General News of Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Source: XYZ

Putting Flagstaff House on prepaid metres “dangerous” - K.T

Former Deputy Energy Minister, K.T. Hammond has described as “dangerous” any attempt to put the Flagstaff House on prepaid metres as part of austerity measures to cut down wastage in the use of power at the presidency.

“Nobody should risk the security of the Presidency by suggesting that it should go on pre-paid metres”, the Adansi Asokwa Legislator warned.

Mr. Hammond also said a directive by the President for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to be put on pre-paid metres should be scrapped because it is ”bad and counter-productive”.

The president’s directive is aimed at controlling wastage of power in the MDAs while encouraging efficient use of energy.

It is also meant to help the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) recover most of its money from the MDAs.

However, Mr. Hammond told Parliament Tuesday that since “it takes too long for funds to be released by the treasury at the MDAs”, the policy could end up affecting productivity.

He warned that the situation could even lead to a complete shutdown of the MDAs since “Chief Directors go through hell to get monies for their activities”.