The New Patriotic Party has described as insincere the efforts by the John Mahama-led government to solve the crippling energy crisis facing the country.
In a statement issued in Accra, Tuesday, the NPP said "over the last 6 years, the ruling NDC government has consistently demonstrated their inability to address the challenges facing the energy sector."
The party is even more skeptical about plans announced by the Power Minister to ameliorate the worsening energy crisis which has seen Ghanaians enjoy 12 hours of power and endure 24 hours of darkness.
Dr. Kwabena Donkor at a press conference in Accra, Monday said government was putting in place adequate measures to add an additional 1,000 megawatts of power to shore up the country's generation capacity.
But the NPP says the Power Minister's comments are empty.
"Mr. Kwabena Donkor fell short of providing financial details and timelines for the aforementioned power projects.
"How is government going to fund such projects, especially so when it was not captured in the 2015 budget which was read on the floor of Parliament by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Seth Tekper?" the statement indicated.
If anything, the party believes the actions and inactions of government have crippled the VRA and that is chiefly to blame for the power crisis confronting the country.
"The actions and inactions of government have weakened the financial capacity of VRA. As we speak, Government, MMDAs and other institutions owe VRA up to the tune of over GHC2 billion and we strongly believe it is the major contributor to what we are experiencing today in Ghana," the statement said.
Whilst chronicling the many negative effects of the power crisis on businesses, educational institutions, and hospitals, the party challenged the government to give a blueprint on how to remedy the situation.
Government must provide us with the project details of the short-term measures and also clear timelines for the completion of the aforementioned power projects, the NPP stated.
The energy crisis is taking a heavy toll on the socio-economic activities of Ghanaians. The load shedding is destroying small and medium enterprises. Big companies are downsizing therefore increasing job losses and unemployment.
"Barbers, hairdressers, carpenters, tailors, students and everybody have been negatively affected.
"Blood in blood banks are at risk due to frequent outages. Bodies of loved ones are decomposing in our morgues.
"What plans does the government have for our hospitals, clinics and health institutions?
"What we demand now are pragmatic plans in fixing this unending power crisis in the shortest possible time," the statement indicated.
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