The power supply challenges in some parts of the country on Thursday 26th October 2023 has generated a lot of public debate as to the causes, and which organisation was to be made scapegoat for the unfortunate incidence.

The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) immediately issued a statement attributing a supply gap of 550MW at peak time, to limited gas supply.

Two days later, in a joint statement with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), GRIDCo explained the cause and indicated that the problem had subsequently been resolved.

What is very clear from the information provided by the two organizations is that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. O-A Danquah cannot be blamed in any way for the blackout, contrary to the information put out by some very uninformed people, portraying themselves as energy analyst.

What is not clear however, is why people would engage in, what is clearly, an attempt to smear the hard-won reputation of the CEO of GNPC, whose organization has undertaken extra-ordinary actions over the past one year to ensure that the country continues to enjoy stable power.

GNPC is not responsible for the power outages that occurred in the country on Thursday. On the contrary, and as contained in the release by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), the outages were due to lack of adequate supply of gas for power generation.

GNPC has rather helped out by utilizing part of monies meant for GNPCs own operations to pay for debts owed the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO), at the expense of the Corporation, but in the national interest.

Sources close to the issue indicate that the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO) had curtailed gas supply for power generation following threats to do so in the past, due to several invoices for gas transportation services remaining unpaid. It is important to note that even though GNPC is the counterparty to the arrangement to transport gas through the WAPCo pipeline, the corporation is not responsible for the generation of the revenues utilized in paying for the gas transportation services.

According to available information, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is supposed to pay for gas transportation services provided by WAPCO through the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM). The CWM was established as an attempt by energy sector players ensure that no new legacy energy sector debts are accumulated over time. GNPC as the guarantor of the transaction between ECG and WAPCo receives the invoices for services provided by WAPCo for liquidation through the CWM. Even though invoices amounted to $56 million for the year, ECG has paid only $12.9 Million for gas transportation services, whilst GNPC has supported with an amount of US$23 million. There is an outstanding balance of US$20 million that resulted in the curtailment of gas supply by WAPCO.

In an attempt to forestall the unfortunate incidence that occurred on Thursday, GNPC between July and October 2023 GNPC, explored every avenue possible to get ECG to honor the overdue payments, but to no avail. This has included writing several letters to ECG and the Minister for Energy.

GNPC and its CEO, Mr. O-A Danquah have shown good faith with the good people of Ghana when it comes to efficiently producing and transporting gas for power generation at optimal cost for the benefit of Ghanaians. It is therefore incorrect and misleading for anyone to intimate that GNPC was responsible for the non-payment of monies to WAPCO leading to the curtailment of gas supply, resulting in the unfortunate power cuts of Thursday 26th October 2023.

The current attempt to make the CEO of GNPC the fall guy for the unfortunate outages would not wash and should be treated with the utmost disdain it deserves. It is rather mischievous to put out falsehoods in the public domain just to attack hardworking individuals who work their fingers to the bone day and night for the nation. Making statements to incite hatred among the populace against innocent individuals does not help anyone.

It is a well-known fact that GNPC is currently working with all the other energy sector players to ensure that a permanent solution is found to forestall any future outages, and they can only be offered the needed support of all well-meaning Ghanaians.