NDC man slams government over 'dumsor'

A member of the communications team of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abu Afandi has slammed government for failing to resolve the energy crisis.

According to him, the ruling government has no excuse to plunge the nation into darkness.

Speaking in an interview with Rainbow Radio's Kwame Tutu said government must explain to Ghanaians why we are still encountering the energy crisis popularly known as 'dumsor'.

The stalwart of the ruling government said despite that he is an NDC person, ''but that doesn't meant that mean that he should not criticize government when something is going wrong. This is not about attacking my government but there are legitimate questions which i demand answers to."

Abu Afandi said government in 2015 went to Parliament to pass the Ghana Infrastructure Fund Bill which required Ghanaians to pay 2.5 percent additional to the VAT rate which he explained were part of efforts to solve the energy crisis.

He is therefore asking the whereabouts of the revenue accrued from the GIF, including the projection of the 750 million for the first year and 1.1 billion for the second year, as well as the money (200 million dollars)took from the Eurobond which he said generated controversies forcing the vice presidential candidate Dr. Bawumia of the NPP to lambast government for "illegally" transferring the money for campaign purposes.

Abu Afandi is suggesting what he terms varying where the proceeds from the GIF can be loaned to the Volta River Authority (VRA) to pay off it debts.

He posited that with all the interventions undertaken by government, they should have no excuse to plunge Ghana into darkness and for him, he would want the Finance Minister, Seth Terpker to address the concerns he's raised.

"We do not have any excuse to say that we have not accumulate money from the GIF; you cannot use it to borrow to make sure that we pay part or fully our debt to N-GAS... The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has not given us any explanation on why we've not be able to pay our debt to get gas to supply our plants... Me as a party person, the dumsor is chocking in me and I'm feeling that we [NDC] don't have an excuse because of all the interventions...The problems are getting so enormous..."