The Minority in Parliament is demanding the whereabouts of some ¢20 million meant for the fixing of street lights between 2018 and 2019 with claims that the Energy Ministry has not been able to account for it.

Ranking member on the roads and transport committee of Parliament Kwame Agbodza Governs has stated that the said amount needs to be accounted for as the public which pays these levies to expect streetlights.

According to him, there are street lights deficits yet monies are still being paid in that regard.

“In total, about ¢273 million was collected from that. An amount of ¢83 million and over was transferred to the ministry and then they could only use ¢64 million. 

"There is a variance of close to ¢20 million which the Ministry received yet could not account for,” he said on the floor of Parliament.

Agbodza Governs pointed to how the companies responsible for the maintenance of streetlights are based in Accra hence the difficulty in servicing these streetlights outside the city.

He called for the decentralisation of the responsibility in order to to ensure various communities get access to streetlights.

Agbodza Governs charged the media to follow up on why the Ministry cannot account for the money paid by the people in with the hope of receiving procured streetlights.

“Is it not high time you decentralize the maintenance of streetlights so that for instance that ¢20 million that is unused can be transferred to all the district assemblies that have streetlights so they could do the maintenance?

"It will be a better way of creating jobs for the young people in those community rather than centralising the procurement and maintenance of streetlights where one or two companies mostly stationed in Accra carry out the maintenance,” he appealed.

Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu, has said although over ¢273 million was collected for the Public Lighting Levy between 2018 and 2019, only ¢64 million was transferred to the Ministry for the purpose of fixing and maintaining street lights.

This amount was collected by Electricity Company (ECG), Volta River Authority (VRA) and Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) as indicated in the Energy Sector Amendment Act.