NPP-USA to NDC: Shut Up And Govern

By now it is clear to Ghanaians that the NDC is utterly incapable of governing Ghana. It is impossible for any group of people to devote as much resources to lying and stealing and still have any left to engage in such positive endeavors as governing. In particular NPP-USA takes issue with the governing party's penchant for illogically pointing fingers at the NPP for Ghana's woes to the extent of magnifying their own folly.

Recently Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia was at again - this time accusing the NPP of "using Ghana's oil as collateral to seek international support for campaign in this year’s election." General Mosquito, as he is dubbed, perhaps for resemblance purposes, or for his penchant to make irritating noise in people’s ears like mosquito does, went on to blame the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the current deficit in the nation’s energy supply. Surprisingly, he stopped short of blaming the NPP for the Allied Cargo plane crash in Accra that took 10 innocent lives.

Ghana is a serious country and must be governed by serious people. Unfortunately we have at the helm of affairs in our dear country people who think lying is a competitive sport with the winners awarded higher positions. It seems they meet around drinks in the evening and compliment each other based upon how ridiculous a lie they each told that day. How can Ghana be left in such hands? But lest we deviate from the issue at hand, here are the facts.

First, the silly charge that the NPP is using Ghana's oil as collateral to seek international support for its campaign is impossible, in that, the NPP at the moment does not have the power to do so. Rather, the NDC government is the one that has collateralized 15 years of our estimated 41.2 years of oil production (if new discoveries are not made) for a $3 billion Chinese loan for gas production infrastructure which was agreed to be constructed by the Jubilee Partners with their own money on a Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) basis.

In February of 2009, the new NDC government put the brakes on that plan and is now collateralizing 15 years of Ghana's oil income for that same project. By the time we finish repaying the $3 billion loan, we would have paid the Chinese anywhere between $6.8 billion to $8.5 billion depending on world oil prices. Second, the NPP administration under president Kufuor did more to boost electricity supply than all the preceding administrations (with the exception of that of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah) combined. The formation of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) in 2006 alone provided the legal basis for the insertion of Independent Power Producers (IPP) that boosted electricity supply by 20%. In the next five years, IPPs are expected to generate 40% of electricity supply.

According to an official documents from ECG, "in 1983, 1993, 1997-1998 and 2006-2007 Ghana experienced severe power crisis due to severe drop in the water levels at the two hydroelectric power stations at Akosombo and Kpong. Today, a number of thermal power plants have been constructed by the Volta River Authority and IPPs to complement hydroelectric power generation in the country to meet the system power demand." Today thermal electricity accounts for 46% of total output. But in the final analysis, Ghana needs results. And the results are clear. Under the NPP, power supply was the most consistent Ghanaians had ever experienced. At some point under the NPP, Ghanaians experienced over 200 days of uninterrupted electricity supply. Under the NDC, Ghanaians have never experienced more than 20 days of uninterrupted electricity supply. And the reasons are not far-fetched. The generation and distribution of electricity is very heavy on equipment maintenance. Under the NPP, the Procurement Act was used to purchase the best equipment from the world's best suppliers to maintain our electricity infrastructure. While lower price was important, winners of government bids to supply these equipment had to also show evidence of quality production and support systems that kept our electricity infrastructure running like a well-oiled machine.

When the NDC took our nation back to the grips or the World Bank and the IMF, lower price began to weigh disproportionately heavier on the award of bids. Consequently, the Chinese and the Indians dominated the winnings and flooded the maintenance of our electricity generation and distribution with inferior equipment. In one instance, equipment from India began to rust and leak three months after they arrived in the country, and even before they were installed.

These are the facts surrounding electricity supply in Ghana. NPP-USA hereby quotes our presidential running mate Dr. Mamudu Bawumia that "you cannot govern a country by propaganda." If the NDC devoted merely half of the energies and resource that it invests in lies and propaganda to actually governing, NPP-USA has no doubt that despite the party-wide ineptitude that the NDC suffers, it would have done a far better job of running the affairs of Ghana than it is currently doing. To that end, our message to the NDC is simple: SHUT UP AND GOVERN.