I have fixed power crisis---President Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has said his administration has succeeded in dealing with the debilitating power crisis with addition of 800 megawatts of power onto the national electricity grid.

This, he explained, is the reason why the country is experiencing some stability in power supply since late last year.

The country was thrown into darkness for almost four years pushing many industries to fold up with many workers also losing their jobs.

But delivering the 2016 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday, President Mahama was happy that his administration has kept the promise of resolving the power crisis.

He said, “I stood before this very august house and promised to fix the power sector deficit that at the time had become a significant constraint to the economic growth and a destruction to Ghanaians both home and at work.

“This was a time of considerable national anxiety. The deficit brought about a severe power rationing and I was very much concerned. Ghanaians had to sleep in darkness or spend money to fuel generators. Businesses faced challenges, and I expressed my full regret to the nation and I took full responsibility as President and leader of this nation and commander in Chief,” he added.

He said although getting through the task was not easy, the hard work has paid off and this has “made us achieve the fastest mobilization of emergency power in the history of Ghana.”

“Fast tracking the finalization and commissioning of KTPP added 220MW, fast tracking the commissioning of TICO’s combined cycle added 110MW, mobilizing Karpower added another 220MW and as I speak, AMERI is adding 250MW extra power to our transmission grid. In addition, 180MW of Asogli phase 2 is also available as soon as we can get extra gas for it.”

He, however, acknowledged that more work still needs to be done to give the comfort required for sustainable generation.

He commended former Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, his deputy, John Jinapor and the Petroleum Minister Emmanuel Kofi-Buah, whose teamwork, he said “achieved this success.”

The president thanked Ghanaians for their patience and understanding even in one of the most difficult times in the country’s history and pledged that “I will continue to work to ensure that we never find ourselves in such a dreadful situation ever again.”

Story by: Michael Creg Afful

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