Dumsor: Claim Akufo-Addo has not added a single megawatt to Ghana’s energy capacity false

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa Central, Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, has claimed that President Nana Akufo-Addo has not added a single megawatt to Ghana’s energy capacity since he became president.

The NDC MP said this in an interview on 3FM’s news analysis programme Hot Edition on Friday, May 3, 2024.

Mr Pelpuo made this statement while criticising the Energy Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku-Prempeh, for refusing to admit that there is an ongoing power crisis.

“You have added nothing to the energy requirements of this country. You have had situations where we have dumsor happening all the time; people are suffering, systems are breaking down because you have failed to provide a timetable and this kind of response shows that he is disrespecting the feelings of Ghanaians.

“The truth is that the only regime, the only president from Kwame Nkrumah up until now, who has added not a single megawatt to our energy requirement, is the Nana Addo regime, under his ministry,” he said.

Mr Pelpuo is not the first member of the leading opposition party to make this claim. In November 2022, Former President and flagbearer of the NDC John Mahama made a similar claim while addressing members of the party in Ashaley Botwe, Accra.

Fact-Check Ghana has verified the claim and presents the findings below.

Claim: “The only president from Kwame Nkrumah up until now, who has added not a single megawatt to our energy requirement, is the Nana Addo regime.”

Verdict: False

Explanation:

On March 11, 2018, President Akufo-Addo pledged at the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance, in India, that his government will increase the contribution of solar energy to Ghana’s energy mix.

“On the basis of my country’s specific needs, government is keen on developing utility-scale solar energy projects, as well as accelerating the development of mini-grid solutions in off-grid and island communities for lighting, irrigation and other economic activities,” he said.

In February 2020, President Akufo-Addo cut sod for the construction of a 6.5 megawatts (MW) solar power system in Lawra in the Upper West Region. In October of that same year, the he inaugurated the project.

Almost two years after that, in April 2022, Power Africa assisted the Bui Power Authority (BPA) to operationalize 50-megawatt (MW) of a 250 MW solar-hydro hybrid project being constructed by the authority. The facility also has a 1 MW floating solar component, which was completed last year.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, again, in August 2022, commissioned a 13 MW solar power project in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region. The project was built by the Volta River Authority and funded by the German Development Bank.

In late April this year, the President inaugurated the second phase of the Solar Power Plant in Kaleo. This phase added 15KW to Ghana’s energy capacity.

From the above, it is clear that President Akufo-Addo’s government has supervised the addition of at least 70MW of solar power to Ghana’s energy capacity. This contradicts the MP for Wa Central, Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo’s claim that President Akufo-Addo has not added a single megawatt to Ghana’s energy capacity.