The Minister of Energy, John Jinapor, says Ghana’s power sector remains resilient despite recent operational setbacks and technical challenges affecting electricity distribution across the country.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series in Accra on Monday, April 27, the Minister addressed recent developments in the energy sector, including disruptions linked to infrastructure failures and leadership changes within key power institutions.
“Recently, we’ve had some major challenges. These challenges have become a two-pronged challenge—the first is the unfortunate incident that just occurred over the weekend,” he said.
He explained that the second challenge relates to long-standing technical difficulties within the power distribution system, including ageing infrastructure.
“The second is the technical challenges we face based on the obsolete equipment, overloaded transformers, and transformers that have been failing,” he added.
His remarks come in the wake of growing public concern over stability in electricity supply, following incidents such as the fire at the Akosombo Power Control Centre and recent management changes within the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti Region.
The briefing also follows his directive for the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) to step aside to allow investigations into the Akosombo incident, which caused disruptions to parts of the national grid and triggered power outages in several regions.
Despite these challenges, Mr Jinapor maintained that the overall direction of the sector remains positive.
“But notwithstanding these challenges, the overall trajectory of the power sector remains strong, progressive; we continue with the reforms, and I must say that the sector remains resilient despite the recent challenges,” he said.
He assured that the government is committed to addressing the issues confronting the sector and restoring full stability.
“As Minister for the sector, even though this is a very challenging period, I am determined to work with the team to ensure that we overcome these challenges,” he said.
Read also
Theo Acheampong: Inflation, Interest rates and confidence improving
