- MP Barimah urges the government to resist signing any take-or-pay agreements
- Energy Minister Prempeh put a stop to all take-or-pay agreements
- Barimah says $586 million saved annually
Ghanaian Member of Parliament representing Dormaa East, Paul Apraku Twum Barimah, in an interview has urged the Ghanaian Government to resist any urge to sign a take-or-pay agreement. He commended the Minister of Energy Matthew Apoku Prempeh to end all previous take-or-pay agreements and halt the signing of new ones in the sector. Barimah noted that this decision saved the sector $586 million in annual costs of unused electricity.
Barimah stated that the administration of President John Mahama had cost the power sector $4.102 billion from the signing of take-or-pay agreements from 2003 – 2010. He said the decision was a costly one, increasing electricity tariffs by almost 200%. He hailed President Nana Akufo-Addo’s efforts in the sector, saying ”Akufo-Addo has a vision of providing safe, reliable energy for the country in a bid to meet its energy needs for domestic consumption and industrialization. He said the era of negotiating power purchase agreement in emergency situations and during hard economic conditions should be a thing of the past and not be repeated”.