MAVERICK POLITICIAN and the leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Mr. Charles Kofi Wayo, has urged President John Agyekum Kufuor and his team of ministers to sacrifice their per diems to help solve the energy crisis that is engulfing the nation if they are interested in solving the problem.
According to him, it was unfortunate that the President asked Ghanaians to bear with them as far as the energy crisis was concerned while he and his ministers continue to take their per diems each and everyday that they travel.
“If they are truly patriotic citizens and are interested in solving the energy problems, they should sacrifice their per diems in the interest of the nation. We need money for the power crisis and if you want us to bear with you, as a leader, you must make the first sacrifice by sacrificing your per diems,” he told this paper in an interview.
Mr. Wayo, a former NPP Parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso East in the Greater Accra Region, expressed shock and dismay over the President’s call and condemned it.
Speaking to this paper in the company of his party’s Acting National Chairman, Mr. Kofi Mark Davis, Kofi Wayo condemned both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the largest opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC) about their claims on the energy crisis.
“Both NPP and NDC do not have any practical knowledge about energy problems. They don’t know how to solve the problems and I am prepared to debate them on any platform because I have practical solutions,” he said.
According to the former NPP stalwart, it was unfortunate that Ghana cannot compete with other countries around the globe, taking globalisation into consideration.
“I listen to all of the parties, and I have drawn my conclusion that they don’t have practical knowledge to complete the energy crisis. The talk of the crisis has been the mouth piece of Dick, Tom and Harry within all the parties, without a single idea to solve it.”
Accusing the government of mismanaging the crisis, Mr. Wayo claimed that, “we have misused all the ideas. We are negative and destructive. We have a parasitic culture and nobody is interested in acquiring knowledge to solve the problem.”
He asserted that the nation is currently in this crisis because “God has run away from us because of the lies, cheats and deceits of our leaders.’
“How can you continue to sleep in darkness since 2001 and you cannot solve the problem for the people and later turn to ask them to bear with you? There is something genetically wrong. I believe that God has run away from Ghana because, the lies and deceits are too much for him.”
Observing that the energy problems are not as a result of the low level of water, he said the whole problem was mismanagement and corruption, stressing that people in the whole society have become jokers.
Taking a swipe at Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), the leader of URP said it was untenable that Mr. Tsikata and his NDC team could not solve the problem let alone provide surplus megawatts for the Energy sector for close to 20 years and then turn round to make ‘noise’.
“If they have ideas, they should have done something before they left office. What have they done? What prevented them from putting their ideas into practicality? For the energy crisis, it is a total monumental failure of both NDC and NPP. They have no excuse,” he said.
After stating that he has expertise to transform the system, he condemned the assertions that he is an empty barrel when the paper questioned him.
“I cannot be described as an empty barrel because I talk on issues. If I am an empty barrel, then Jesus Christ is also an empty barrel because He promised to build a temple but could not build it.”
Using the opportunity to call on Ghanaians to vote for his party, URP, Mr. Wayo, said his party was the only party which has the motto “Mercy for the poor. We are for the masses.’
He also claimed that he could not do anything for now until he is given the mandate by Ghanaians to rule, adding that, “The solution to the energy crisis is to get rid of the NPP. They don’t have mercy for the people. They don’t care. They are in for their show and coins.”
Additionally, he said the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President; the former President, Jerry John Rawlings and the current President Mr. J. A. Kufuor were not able to build a single classroom or construct a road for the nation until given the power.
“What did Nkrumah, Rawlings and Kufuor do for Ghana before they became Presidents? I will do better when given the chance,” he said.
