Where Does The Buck Stop?

None of the entities in the electricity supply chain wants to be isolated as the source of the now aggravated power outages.

The ECG can only supply the power that is supplied by the VRA. Gridco, on the other hand, can only convey the power generated to the points where the ECG can supply consumers across the country.

In the face of the now seemingly unstoppable power outages, however, the entities have been engaging in a subtle and unpleasant blame-game in the media.

A situation where each of them- ECG, Gridco and ECG- parries responsibility for the power outages is not a pleasant one and cuts a picture of inappropriate evasiveness on the part of these organisations.

Under such circumstances, we the consumers are left helpless with no option but to look skyward for a way out of the quagmire we find ourselves in as poor citizens , especially having watched deadlines for the end of the outages come and go.

The public relations departments of the various entities appear to have exhausted all the tricks of the industry in assuaging the pain of consumers.

The inability of the authority to generate power is a challenge which does not lie on the desk of the VRA CEO; it goes beyond that point.

We can only empathise with the managements of the three entities under the circumstances because at the end of it all, the solution to the generation and supply challenge is a political decision which can only be taken by the government.

A one-time head of the VRA, Dr. Wereko-Brobby, in an intervention a few days ago, expressed disappointment in our inability as a country to implement plans towards containing the challenges in the energy sector, adding that we are best when it comes to drawing plans.

We could not have agreed more with this position. Being aware of the reality of an annual consumption growth, why have we been unable to implement the many plans we have laid out over the years to contain such challenges?

If the previous government of President John Agyekum Kufuor embarked upon the Bui Project, which was vilified out of political expedience, what has the successive government done by way of arresting future challenges which are what we are encountering currently?

We despise the tendency to float empty promises and politicise every subject under the moon even as the future awaits us, notwithstanding the realities of the follies of our political leadership.

That future is now and the power outages are the realities. As for the follies, they are the politicisation of issues we love to float. So when will it all be over? We do not know and we are not in a position to believe the power-generating entities. For the buck stops with the government.

Source: Editorial/Daily Guide