According to him, the country currently relies on approximately 150 megawatts, leading to ongoing load shedding across major cities, commonly referred to as Dumsor.

“The power sector is not as robust as we need it to be, and therefore we face these kinds of challenges. We currently have a deficit, which is not as significant as it was a couple of months ago; we now have about 150 megawatts of load to share,” he said while discussing the frequent power outages in the country on Monday, November 4, 2024, with Kojo Yankson on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.

Mr. Boakye added that low voltages and total power outages sometimes occur due to the energy sector’s inability to manage the situation effectively.

“The reality is that the system also has a deficit that needs to be managed, and from our [ACEP] tracking, the power providers are moving it around quickly, creating the impression that we have enough, but it is actually not sufficient.”

He criticized the power suppliers for not communicating the correct information to the public regarding power consumption.

He urged the sector to keep the public informed about load-sharing situations to prevent businesses from being adversely affected.

“That is why it is important to communicate these matters properly, share the loads, and provide optimal power to those who have it so they can be productive,” he said.

Regarding the ongoing issue of Dumsor in the country, Ben also attributed it to financial deficits.

He stated, “It is not the job of the Ministry of Finance to pay the electricity bills; it is the responsibility of those managing the sector to ensure that revenues can be collected so the budget does not bear the burden of paying for people’s electricity bills.”

The country’s major industries that depend on the energy sector continue to struggle for stable power. Over the years, many businesses, including domestic consumers, have lost valuable items and services due to power outages.

ACEP is one of the independent institutions advocating for transparency and accuracy in the energy sector.

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Mr. Boakye said that the recent power outages have been caused by a combination of factors, including the shutdown of some power plants and a shortage of fuel.

Speaking on JoyNews, he stated that some of the plants relied on by the country are unable to provide stable power because there is a shortage of fuel.

“Some of the plants are down and you should know, working with the engineers, what the timelines look like for them to come back on stream. So tell us what the timelines look like and let people plan their lives,” he said on February 29, 2024.

Mr Boakye pointed to a management crisis within the power sector.

 He said that the Energy Commission needs to ensure that all the systems are working properly, as any failure in one part of the system can affect the entire system which would result in power outages.

According to him, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), the company that manages the power grid, is not investing enough in updating and expanding the grid.

He stated that the growing population and development in the country is increasing the demand for power and in order to meet this growing demand, the government and GRIDCo need to make significant investments in expanding and strengthening the grid.

“If that investment is not happening, you will always have challenges and the tricks will keep happening and they don’t get the money to be able to sustain the investment in the grid.”

In addition, the executive director also stated that exports are being cut which is sustaining the state institutions.

 “So it is the export revenue that they use to pay salaries and survive and now that export revenue is not there because there is shortfall, they have to cut export and meet domestic demand so they don’t have money. The cash flow is impacted and that would affect GRIDCo and GRA even worse because they are not going to get the revenue they need to be as functional as we need them to be and that is a big problem,” he said.

In an interview on JoyNews’ The Probe, Mr Benjamin Boakye stated that being a minister is not a constitutional right; therefore, if people call for his resignation, he should go.

“When you have 85% of the people’s representative saying that they have lost confidence in you, they do not want you, I do not think that anybody has the right to be a minister – there is no constitutional right to be a minister for which anybody can defend,” he said.

This comes after the Finance Minister appeared before the 8-member Adhoc Committee of Parliament hearing a motion of censure against him by the Minority to defend himself.

According to Mr Boakye, there is no need for Mr Ofori-Atta to defend himself.

“This is an unnecessary addition to what we need to do at this point in terms of what we need to do to recover,” he said

“It is the constitutional process of people voting and the people’s will that say that he has to go at this point. We are told that 85% of his people in his own camp says he should go and the entire Minority, put that together, it is an overwhelming number,” he added.

He stressed that the Finance Minister must resign.

Mr Boakye added, “considering the difficulty that Ghanaians are in, we have to clear the air and give confidence to the market and people who want to deal with Ghana for us to come out of the difficulty.”