Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, has expressed “disappointment” with the minority in parliament for citing energy bills among the reasons for his removal.

According to him, Ghanaians “endured long dumsor” under the NDC administration which was due to the inability to pay power debts.

The finance minister noted that the NDC government left some debts which his government has been working to settle as stated in the 2022 budget.

Appearing before the ad committee probing the censure motion proposed by the Minority, Ofori-Atta said: “It is important at this point, to also highlight that a key component of the national debt stock related to three (3) exceptional expenditure items that are neither external nor a creation of this Government”

He lists them as follows:

Energy Sector Excess Capacity payments (GH¢17 billion), which relate to a legacy of take or pay contracts that saddled the country’s economy with annual excess capacity charges of close to US$1 billion;

ii. Direct COVID-19 expenditure amounted to GHC 12.0 billion; and
iii. the Banking Sector Clean up (GHC 25 billion).

He added that “These three items alone, contribute to about 23% of our annual debt servicing cost. These three items were not created through the recklessness of the New Patriotic Party. The long dumsor that Ghanaians endured under the NDC administration between 2012 and 2016 was more to do with the NDC government’s inability to pay for power.”

It was in this regard that he said he found “it curious that Hon. Ato Forson will choose to cite energy bills as an example of the recklessness that the Minority charges me with and seek my removal by censure. Especially when we have had to pay around $500 million dollars a year in excess capacity charges, for power the previous administration negotiated that we do not need and we do not use.”

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