ACEP Screens Manifestos; Encouraged By Similarities In Energy Policies

The African Centre For Energy Policy- ACEP over the week led citizens of Ghana to discuss the Manifesto of the various political parties.

The Citizens’ Energy Manifesto Monitor gives Ghanaians from all walks of lives the opportunity to make an input into how state actors should manage our natural resources

The platform seeks to provide citizens the avenue to hold whoever emerges victorious in the 2016 elections accountable and their manifesto promises binding

In an event organised at Alisa Hotel to seek the views of expert on the various promises, the resourced persons noticed notable similarities between the various political parties’ view of our energy situation and how to resolve them

For instance in the area of Generational Capacity, the NDC promised to increase the capacity in excess of 5000 MW by 2021 and ensure there is universal access to electricity by 2025. The NPP on the other hand promised to increase capacity by implementing a 10 year Energy Master Plan to take care of our energy needs in the medium term to the long term

The Convention Peoples Party promised to explore, depending on the cost, technical feasibility and environmental friendliness: wind, nuclear, bio-mass, gas, hydro as sources of generating energy to increase the capacity

All the parties agreed on the need to resort to renewable energy to help meet the required capacity

Energy conservation was also common in the various manifestos. Most of the energy generated in Ghana gets lost through the process of transmission, illegal connection and abuse by end users

To avert the wastage of energy, the CPP will embark on nationwide campaign including writing energy conservation tips on every electricity bill to keep users informed about the need to conserve power and how it can be done

NDC will develop more energy sources and encourage conservation whereas the NPP made reference to the introduction of compact fluorescent bulbs by the Kufour government in 2007 as an example of some of the measure to be adopted to ensure energy is conserved

To analyse the various Manifestos’ Energy Promises, The African Centre for Energy Policy- ACEP instituted a 3 member panel of experts to lead the discussion and answer questions on the promises and how they can be achieved

The Panel member were; Mr Kweku Awote- Founder of Precious Minerals Ltd and former Chief Executive of Volta River Authority, Mr Emmanuel Kuyale an active player in the Mining Sector and Mr Ismael Edjekumhene- Executive Director of Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment with ace Broadcaster Evans Mensah serving as the moderator

From the panellists, the positive aspect of the various Manifestos is that they agreed on most of the issues and in some cases fashioned out similar solutions.

This according to them will auger well for building consensus in the future and help approach our energy situation with a common voice

The Citizens Platform provides Ghanaians the opportunity to make input into how they should be government and how natural resources should be managed for benefit of all

ACEP has over the years served as a major player in the energy sector and it was therefore not surprising that almost all the manifestos contained recommendations by the organisations

The Executive Director of ACEP, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, said that the monitor, which will help in tracking the energy manifestos of the various political parties, sought to help better inform the electorate.