The former CEO of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata, has responded to statements made by World Bank Country Director in Ghana, Pierre Frank Laporte, claiming that the World Bank misunderstands Ghana’s national energy position.
The renowned legal practitioner, made these comments while speaking to Accra-based TV3 concerning the recent interview by the World Bank Country Director, Pierre Laporte, who claimed that the Mahama-led administration signed expensive energy deals that are still having a repelling effect on the economy of Ghana today.
According to him, the World Bank always fails to understand the full energy sector situation.
“I’ve seen that the world bank is getting itself into the forefront of this discussion because, again, when I look back at this whole gas, fired, power sector, which is where some of these issues are rising, the world bank has made some serious mistakes in relation understanding the national energy situation.”
He went on to explain that the Bretton Woods institution made a similar mistake in the early 1900s when Ghana wanted to explore natural gas as an alternative to hydro energy.
“You know in the 80s and the early 90s when GNPC as a result of the gas mandate was insisting that based on all the evidence available gas was an important source to complement the supplement the power from hydro sources. At that time, the view of the world bank was against having additional capacity from gas recourses because of the argument of the world bank,” he continued.
To the former CEO of GNPC, the cost of fuel is the major cause of the energy sector crisis.
“And the reason I am raising this is that fuel cost is a major cost of the problem that we have about the power sector, fuel cost is a major part of the problem. And some of those fuel cost has to do with even going back to the use of light crude oil,” he added.
Former CEO of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC, Tsatsu Tsikata says World Bank has contributed significantly to Ghana’s energy sector debt and not as a result of Power Purchase agreements of excess capacity signed in the past.