NDC Descends On Government

Although Parliament did not continue the suspended energy crisis debate yesterday, the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a press conference in the House to react to a number of energy-related matters which it thought Government had misrepresented.

The ranking member on the Parliamentary committee on mines and energy, Hon. Moses Asaga, said certain statements made by the President, the Energy Minister and the Interior Minister about the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) were untrue.

“None of these claims of the President are true and it is disturbing that such false statements have to be made by the president on such an occasion.”

The claim, according to Asaga, included the President saying that it was his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government which brought the GNPC back to its core business instead of being a general purpose company.

He said when he joined the GNPC in 1993, “there was absolutely no doubt about the focus of the corporation” and “this was also reflected in the corporate plans developed by the corporate planning department.”

He noted that it was mischievous and misleading for government to assert that it was its work which led to the recent discovery of crude oil off the coast of Cape Three Points as “the personnel of GNPC's Exploration and production division that were in place before 2001 are the same staff that have remained since.”

Asaga blasted the energy Minister, Hon Joseph Kofi Adda for displaying his ignorance about the role of salt in the petrochemical industry.

He said salt was an important component of the industry and that salt was different from what the minister came to show in Parliament as a sample of what the NDC used the GNPC for.

“The salt he brought was fake which was may be from Navrongo and not from the GNPC”, adding that it was only an ignorant chemist who might think so.

He said since government had failed to address the country's energy crisis as expected, “They are now piling falsehood upon falsehood and not finding a solution to the crisis as they seek escape route from their responsibility.”

According to Asaga, the NDC's decision to let the GNPC invest in the telecommunication, gold and salt industries were decisions taking in the interest of the nation depending on the circumstances of the time.

Asaga, who was surrounded by a battalion of other NDC MPs, assured the nation that the party was still ready to put its energy expertise at the disposal of the ruling NPP government.

“Our party is also ready to share ideas in good faith in pursuit of the common national goal of solving this energy crisis which threatens the well-being of us all.”

Earlier in the day, the deputy Volta Regional Minister, Hon Joseph Kwaku Nayan, was in the House to answer some questions pertaining to the region while the acting Minister of Transport, Felix Owusu-Adjapong, also answered some questions about his outfit.

An eight-member delegation from the International Criminal Court in The Hague called on the leadership of the House to discuss matters of mutual interest to the two sides.

By Sylvanus Nana Kumi