Mathew Opoku Prempeh is not insensitive – Spokesperson hits back at critics

The Ministry in charge of Energy has jumped to the defence of underfire sector Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh.

The Minister has been chastised by Ghanaians after he called on critics asking for a load-shedding timetable to be published amid current intermittent power outages (dumsor) in the country to bring one themselves.

“If you are comparing four years, NPP administration in the energy sector is 300 times better than John Mahama. I’m just saying things are far better than under Mahama.

“Ask those who want it to bring it. If you say bring a timetable what do you mean? The ECG says there is no timetable coming. Why do you want to bring a timetable? Why will someone get up and wish bad for the country,” Mathew Opoku Prempeh bemoaned.

The Minister of Energy has been described by many as disrespectful, arrogant and insensitive.

But in defending the Minister, the Energy Ministry in a letter signed by the Minister’s spokesperson, Kofi Abrefa Afena said he was only being factual.

In the release, the Spokesperson stressed that Mathew Opoku Prempeh is not insensitive as he is being portrayed in the reportage of his interview.

"The Ministry of Energy has taken notice of the spin around an interview granted Joy News by Energy Minister, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh on the margins of the inauguration of the New Patriotic Party's Ashanti Regional Campaign Team last Sunday. The rather innocuous statements of the Minister as captured by the interview have been distorted to portray him as being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians.

"The Honorable Minister has always been sensitive to the plight of the Ghanaian people and continues to ask for their forbearance, as has always been the case when challenges relative to power stability emerge,” the release from the Energy Ministry said.

In the release, the Energy Ministry assured the general public that the Ministry as the policy maker and mother agency of the various power sector actors is working assiduously with these agencies to ensure that the temporary challenges are resolved.