Opinion: Don’t Listen to the Nation-Wreckers! – By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo/Photo: Presidency

The brouhaha, largely opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)-manufactured, surrounding President’s executive approval of the renegotiated AMERI energy-supply deal, must be swiftly and roundly afforded the blistering rejection that it more than deserves. It is a pity because the man who signed the original agreement, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, the NDC’s Member of Parliament for Pru-East, in the Brong-Ahafo Region, categorically and publicly noted that he conducted absolutely no due diligence or critical examination of this momentous contract prior appending his signature to the same.

Asia 728x90

Now, this is a man whom we have since learned possesses a doctoral degree in Management or some such aspect of Business Administration from a major British University and is at least, in theory, expected to possess expert knowledge on contractual compacts like the AMERI Power-Supply Deal. You see, the first problem that I had with the process by which the defunct Power Ministry was tailor-designed for Dr. Kwabena Donkor by then-President John Dramani Mahama, was the fact the latter did not ask for any comprehensive proposal from the British-educated NDC-MP on how Dr. Donkor intended to expeditiously solve the country’s chronic and perennial energy crisis, globally known as “Dumsor,” before he ceded the newly created cabinet portfolio to this “Yes-Man” of his who, for all we know or care to know, may very well be related to Mrs. Lordina Mahama, the former First Lady, whose consanguineous relationship with Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD, has been widely rumored to have played a significant role in him being appointed to his obscenely overpaid job.

What I wanted to observe here is that Dr. Opuni’s equally gross incompetence at COCOBOD, like that of Dr. Donkor, may very well have cost the Ghanaian taxpayer and the nation millions of dollars. And this is precisely the problem that I have with the NDC operatives who have been throwing what clearly amounts to spitballs at the renegotiated AMERI deal. Among the Akan, there is a maxim that I am very fond of which pretty much sums up the attitude and behavior of the NDC critics of the deal. This is what that maxim says: “If Mr./Ms. Naked promises you a bolt/bale of cloth, you just listen to his/her name.”

My primary concern on this subject is far less the question of whether the 15-year extension of the renegotiated AMERI deal will cost the Ghanaian taxpayer more money, but the fact of whether the quality of the provision of power supply will be steady and uninterrupted. You see, what we are talking about here is efficiency, in both the short and long term, not mere superficial cost-cutting measures without any significant or appreciable improvement in our nation’s power-supply system. You can bet your bottom-dollar that when he appended his signature to the new deal, President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was looking at the matter squarely in terms of reliability and efficiency. Therefore I have absolutely no doubt or reservations, whatsoever, in my mind that Parliament will waste absolutely no time in resoundingly and wisely approving the renegotiated AMERI deal. The one-district, one factory industrial policy initiative, for only one ready example, cannot succeed without an efficient and around-the-clock supply of electricity.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com  Ghanaffairs

The views expressed by this author remain solely their own and are not to be taken as the view of the Editorial Board of www.africanewsanalysis.com,  www.zongonews.com and ZongoNews Radio & TV