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The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says his government, over the past year, has brought stability in the place of the erratic power situation that was inherited from the erstwhile Mahama government.

According to President Akufo-Addo, adequate power supply is critical to the operation and success of industry, especially small and medium scale enterprises, which provide the bulk of employment.

He explained that not only is regular supply important, but competitive rates of power are equally important.

It is for this reason, the President said, that “tariff rates for non-residential users of electricity, which embrace many SMEs, have been reduced by an average of 14% to boost their competitiveness.”

President Akufo-Addo was speaking at a media encounter on Wednesday, 17th January, 2018, at the Flagstaff House, marking his government’s 1st year in office, when he made this known.

The President revealed further that an Industrial Development Tariff has been approved for industry to enhance its competitiveness.

To this end, a new rate of US$6.50 per Million British Thermal Units (MMBtu), as against the previous rate of US$8.84 per Million British Thermal Units (MMBtu), has been established, representing a 26.5% reduction.

“In addition, a review of 24 power purchase agreements, which has led to the termination of 11 power deals and the rescheduling of 8 others, has enabled us to save the government treasury about $7 billion in excess capacity charges over a 13-year contract period,” he said.

The President continued, “We also issued 7 year and 10 year cedi-denominated bonds, totaling GH¢4.7 billion, which have halved the $2.4 billion energy debt we inherited, and have helped improve the liquidity of the banks, and the balance sheets of the SOEs in the energy sector.”

In 2018, President Akufo-Addo was hopeful that his Government will consolidate these gains and ensure the flow of regular, affordable power to support the economic development of Ghana.

Planting for Food & Jobs; Galamsey fight

On one of his government’s flagship programmes, Planting for Food and Jobs”, the President stated that the Programme, which registered over 200,000 farmers in the 2017 crop season, has been a big success.

“I am particularly excited about the institutional sub–programmes, where 20 Senior Technical High Schools, National Service Scheme and the Prison Services were supported to cultivate their own farms. Under the Youth in Agriculture programme of Planting for Food and Jobs, 10,000 youth were supported to cultivate 800 hectares and 10,320 hectares of rice and maize, respectively,” he added.