THE
KEYS TO GHANA’S ENERGY PADLOCK
I believe in and practice prayers daily. I will
rather pray for life-transforming changes in Ghana by invoking positive
supernatural interventions in her affairs than to add my voice to some foolish
name callings and tags, insinuations and mockery that are of no benefit. “It is
better to light a candle,” so goes a saying, “than to curse the darkness.” I
concede that although prayer can work out miracles for Ghana, it is never
enough if God has not wrought such miracles. Certainly, until God decides to
perform a miracle He wants us to discover and apply relevant life principles.
Ghana needs to discover and apply all the
relevant principles relating to the energy sector. Energy continues to play
pivotal developmental role in nations. It connotes power and power is central
to economic growth and development. Energy thus enhances economic growth and
development of Ghana. However, Ghana has not been able to enjoy the full
blessings within the bosom of its energy sector because of her failure to consistently
and firmly apply objective market principles in that sector.
Ghana
has recurrently been wrestling with energy crisis since 1984, and this means 30
years of mere political lamentations and systemic failure to holistically arrest
this canker. This is a great indictment to Ghana. It has been observed that
Ghana’s energy crisis props on a weak energy sector (including weak legal and
political regime). There is thus a need for rolling out a comprehensive Energy
Action Plan that will include extensive legal framework that reflects
developmental and socio-cultural peculiarities of Ghana. One major assumption
about mankind’s need, which remains largely uncontested, is that the phenomenon
of energy has competing political, environmental and economic considerations
but the ultimate solution that can unleash the full potential of energy for
sustainable development can be delivered mainly by technology.
The
primary consumers of electrical energy in Ghana are commerce, industries and
residents. However the tariffs these consumers pay do not usually cover the
full cost of production and supply as the state provides significant subsidy to
cover production cost. Although the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC)
is charged with setting and approving tariffs, it is doubtful whether PURC
strikes a workable and fair balance between the competing stakeholders in the
energy market since it represents the interests of both consumers and
providers. A careful observation of political reality in Ghana is that the
independence of PURC as a regulatory body is often compromised by government
interference in order to avert unpleasant political consequences from tariff
levels determined by the regulator according to objective market principles.
However,
government’s interventions (subsidies) usually distort energy services and
underinvestment in the sector which, mainly, contributes to the crisis. The
question is to what extent should consumers be protected? And how does the
energy legal framework effectively shields the independent regulatory bodies
from political manipulations?
I
concede that in a developing country like Ghana with significant number of its populace
below or barely on the poverty line, it is important for safety net to be
provided by the government to cushion low income groups against high market
tariffs. Nevertheless, it needs to be
stressed that there must exist a permanent fund out of which energy subsidy is
provided by the government so that government does not arbitrary divert
resources that could have been invested in the energy sector into subsidisation
of tariffs in order to remain politically popular. Thus a well considered legal
framework for the energy sector could provide for creation and sustenance of
such a fund.
Richard
Obeng Mensah, Esq.
Author
of Wisdom
Thoughts.
Blog:
Richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com
