Find solution to power crisis – Akufo-Addo tasks MiDA

President Akufo-Addo has inaugurated an 11-member governing board for the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA).

The new board is to oversee the successful implementation of the Energy Compact, which focuses on expansion and stabilisation of power supply in the country.

The inauguration comes after the worsening power crisis which bedevilled the country for four years.

Inaugurating the new board, the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, said the move was one of critical actions required for finding solutions to the major problems of effective power supply for economic and personal development.

According to the President, critical intervention is required to ensure that the objectives of the compact are achieved so as to make life meaningful for the people of Ghana.

He charged members of the board to ensure the formulation of strategies that will help solve the energy situation for the people to benefit.

President Akufo-Addo also noted that the energy sector was also faced with finding a private sector solution to the development of ECG, which poses a serious challenge to the compact, hence the board has a huge task in ensuring that applicable solutions are found to end the crisis and bring successful implementation of the Compact.

He tasked members of the board to exhibit leadership to achieve the targets set for them and to deliver the country from the power challenges it is facing.

The Chairman of the Board, Professor Yaa Ntiamoah Badu, thanked the President for appointing them and expressed appreciation for the confidence the President and the people of Ghana reposed in them.

She called for cooperation from key players in the power sector in order for them to deliver on their mandate.

She, however, assured the President and the people of Ghana that the board would do everything possible in ensuring that it delivered on its mandate.

“We have challenges we need to resolve to move forward, and the board will do all it can to ensure that practical solutions are formed to end the power crisis,” she said.

The 11-member board includes Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Trade and Industry Alan Kyerematen, Minister for Energy Boakye Agyarko, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection Otiko Afisa Djaba, Attorney General Gloria Akufo, Minister for Business Development Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, CEO of MiDA, Kweku Sarfo, Samuel Kwabena Desousa from the Private Enterprise Foundation, Humphrey Ayim Darko Agyei from the Association of Ghana Industries, among others.

Ghana benefitted from the five-year $547 million Millennium Challenge Compact aimed at reducing poverty by raising farmer incomes through private sector-led, agribusiness development.

While the first compact aggressively tackled Ghana's agriculture, the second is geared towards improving the country's power sector, which at the moment is in crisis.