Stakeholders in the energy sector have called on the government to take steps to improve the living conditions of rural and peri-urban communities by providing them with affordable lighting. It is estimated that close to 40% of the 23 million Ghanaians are among the two billion people in the word with no access to light. This came to light during a one-day stakeholders policy dialogue to assess how small and medium scale enterprises in Ghana can play a key role in the in the delivery of modern energy services beyond the grid of concerted efforts to remove the challenges faced by off-grid energy product consumers and businesses. The dialogue was organised by KITE, a non-profit-making organization in the energy, technology, and environmental sectors, sought to reflect on the on the implementation of a solar energy use initiative dubbed the “Affordable Lighting For All (ALFA)” project. The ALFA project is a pilot of the Dutch Government's Sustainable Energy for Africa (SESA) programme launched in 2007 to improve lives by proving affordable lighting to people in un-served areas. Speaking at the programme, the Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission, Dr. Ofosu Ahenkorah called on the government to expedite action to redeem rural and urban poor communities, representing 40% of the population, from darkness, adding that photovoltaic (PV) lighting provided an alternative to the country's electricity deficit. He said with 10 years away from the government strategic plan of hooking the entire country onto the national electricity grid by 2020, it was important for the government to take steps to remove some of the bottlenecks to solar PV products in Ghana. Dr. Ofosu Ahenkorah said people without access to electricity are disadvantaged in many ways. He said they are prone to many dangers ranging from falling into drains, occasional stumbling and sometimes attack from robbers and even reptiles. He said children from such communities are disadvantaged since most of them are cutoff from modern educational tools even though they write the same exams as their counterparts in the cities. The Director of KITE, Me Ishmael Edjekumhene, appealed to all to support the campaign for affordable lighting for all since its impact on poverty reduction was positive. The project Manager of ALFA, Mr Frank Owusu, called on the government to relax the tax regime on the importation of solar lanterns. The participants were drawn from the ministries of energy, trade and industry, and finance and economic planning. The rest were from Customs Excise and Preventive Service, VAT Service and members of the civil society. Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana