Minority Condemns Politics In Energy Sector   

The high level of politics in Ghana’s Energy Sector under President Akufo-Addo’s regime poses threat to the nation and must therefore be halted immediately, the Minority in parliament has said.

Mr. John Abdulai Jinapor, MP for Yapei-Kusawgu who raised the motion claimed it is instructive to note that Ghana's Energy Sector has not only been politicized but has been hugely polarised to an extent that promotions to top management and bureaucratic positions are now based on cronyism, nepotism and political patronage.

He said instead of following time tested practice of filling key vacancies by firstly resorting to the recruitment of already qualified serving personnel within the various organisations, the NPP Government has adopted the unorthodox means of recruiting outsiders some of whom have very questionable credentials to occupy key positions.

 The lawmaker explained that it is important to note that whilst the erstwhile NDC government promoted and implemented the policy of recruiting qualified serving personnel internally to fill vacant top management positions as has been the practice, the same cannot be said of the current NPP administration. 

 According to him, the canker which is threatening the Energy sector has been so pervasive to an extent that in the VRA alone, the following vacant key positions which require Build Recruitment Policy for appointments (appointment from within) have been filled with outsiders some of whom have doubtful credentials for instance;

1. a) Chief Executive Officer, VRA;
2. b) Director of Investments, 2018;
3. c) Director of Human Resource, 2018 (who only served 2yeras to become Deputy Chief Executive ahead of her more qualified long-serving seniors);
4. d) Manager, Business Systems Audit in the Audit Department, 2021;
5. e) Assistant Engineer Infrastructure, 2020;
6. f) Administrative Assistant/Administrative Officer, 2018;
7. g) Managing Director, NEDCo 2019;
8. h) Head of Security in 2020. The new recruit is supervising his seniors/superiors already in the service (a practice not in conformity with the performance in the Security Service).
9. i) Deputy Chief Executive (Service), 2020;
10. j) Senior Officer Corporate Communication; and
11. k) Principal Finance Officer for Treasury section in 2020 without advert, just to mention but a few.

John Abdulai Jinapor said these unfortunate developments if left unchecked will further diminish the morale of Senior Staff and the VRA Divisional Union.

“This poor Corporate Governance practice is a threat to the Energy Sector and must be condemned outright. The Energy sector SOEs play very critical roles in Ghana and cannot be treated as if they are an appendage of a political party, the statement of the Yapei-Kusawgu legislator.