Members of the opposition National Democratic Congress appear gradually to be confirming that they do not really care about efforts which advance the collective good of Ghana and the Ghanaian people but seek only to advance their own parochial, partisan interest in all national matters of any importance.
The evidence is to be found in the party’s “multiple” standards about the issue of adjustment of electricity tariffs, which expose the NDC as a group of opportunists without principles.
Opposes reduction
The opposition party kicked against a reduction in electricity tariffs by the New Patriotic Party government in March 2018.
Before that, the party had accused the government of not fulfilling its campaign promise to reduce tariffs.
Edward Bawa, the NDC MP for Bongo in the Upper East Region, said at the time that the tariff reduction would bring about a power crisis. He alleged that it would compromise revenue projections for utility providers and power generators and expose them to debt.
“The current move, the reduction, is on the energy charges. It is an encroachment on their revenues because energy charges are one of the accruals that the utilities will make,” he claimed.
“I know the factors that took us to dumsor. Those factors are still lingering. My fear is that if we don’t consolidate and make this system robust, and just because of the fact that we want to satisfy electoral promises we go into situations like this, we may expose ourselves to yet another dumsor,” Mr Bawa said.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) had announced a general reduction in electricity tariffs in March 2018, in which residential customers benefited from a 17.5 percent reduction while non-residential customers saw their tariffs cut by 30 percent.
Those in the mining sector were given a 10 percent tariff cut, and there was a 25 percent cut for special load tariff customers.
The PURC’s tariff reduction at the time followed a government proposal for a downward adjustment. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced the proposal in the government’s “Edwuma Budget”, presented in November 2017.
But the announcement, though welcome news to many Ghanaians, particularly those in business and the poor, who had been calling for a reduction in power tariffs, was rejected flatly by the NDC.
The NDC’s spokesman on mines and energy, Adams Mutawakilu, said the government did not have any power to make proposals for a reduction in electricity tariffs.
Opposes no change
Again, when in February this year the PURC announced that it would maintain electricity tariffs, members of the NDC opposed the decision.
Following the Commission’s announcement that tariffs would remain the same until the end of the second quarter of 2019, the same Edward Bawa said that maintaining the tariff would be detrimental to the energy companies’ sustainability.
The Bongo MP said considering Ghana’s economy, with the depreciation of the cedi and various other factors which affect price charged for electricity, the decision was not a prudent one.
“We need to save our utility services by giving them a cost-reflective tariff. PURC’s tariffs review from March to June will cost the utility services not less than GHC700 million, which will collapse them, and we will be going back to ‘dumsor’,” he claimed.
Opposes increment
Now the same NDC is up in arms against the government over the PURC’s decision to adjust electricity tariff upwards.
On Friday the PURC announced an 11.7 per cent increase in power tariffs effective from July 1. But the NDC has vowed to go any lengths to ensure that the increase is not implemented.
According to a former deputy energy minister, John Jinapor, who is also a member of Parliament’s mines and energy committee, the increase is unfortunate and unjustifiable.
He maintains that as such, the price change cannot be accepted, and has served notice that “when push comes to shove”, the Minority will go to court to force a review of the PURC’s decision.
The PURC approved an 11.7 percent tariff increase for recovery of the total electricity revenue requirement for the regulated electricity market.
A statement signed by Mami Dufie Ofori, PURC executive secretary, said the main objective of the tariff review is to sustain the financial viability of utility service providers as well as to ensure delivery of quality service to consumers.
“This 2019-2020 Major Tariff Review Decision is the outcome of prudent cost review and effective monitoring undertaken by the Commission,” the PURC statement said.
It also said the decision had been taken after the Commission considered tariff proposals from stakeholders, including electricity and water service providers.
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