The Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Policies and Research, Kojo Nsafoah Poku, has berated former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, for criticising the government.
According to Nsafoah Poku, Boakye Agyarko has no right to criticise the government because his actions, when he was minister, contributed to the current challenges the country is facing.
In an XYZ TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Nsafoah Poku added that the former energy minister unilaterally reduced electricity tariffs which is affecting the country to date.
“I think he (Agyarko) is the last person to come on TV or the radio to talk (and criticise the government). He was the former energy minister. He is probably one of the biggest disappointments we have had in the energy sector. He is one of the causes of the problems we have today.
“… he reduced the electricity (tariffs) on March 2016 without even the PURC… He made promises in the elections so he reduced electricity prices and that was the reason PDS was not able to succeed. This man insisted that we reduce prices (of electricity) and because we promised in elections, he will reduce it.
“You cannot create a problem, leave and come back to criticise it… he is going to be held accountable. This is the same man who sat at vetting and said that our total indebtedness is 2.4 billion in the sector … When he came what did he do, there was a bleeding. Did he stop the bleeding? He didn’t. It took honourable Amewu to come to clean his mess,” he said in Twi.
Boakye Agyarko criticised the government for making excuses for the current challenges Ghana is going through, saying that the Russia-Ukraine and COVID-19 excuse of the Akufo-Addo administration is dead horse.
The former energy minister tasked the government to put in the required work to reverse the current economic crunch instead of overly blaming external factors.
He added that even though factors like COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war indeed impact economies like that of Ghana, the government has the responsibility of forward planning to mitigate the negative impact of such incidents.
