Internal New Direction Party politics is already wrecking the distribution of sustainable electricity, a political hot potato commodity to the residents of the capital Freetown in the last few weeks.
Whatever you may say, the Kanja Sesay led administration at the Ministry of Energy has over the last two years tried it best to meet the energy needs of Freetown even with the aging distribution and transmission network.
As Minister of Enegry, Kanja Sesay was immediately able to address the blackout crisis that had hit the capital Freetown just after they took power in April,2018.
He was able to use the Turkish based Karpowership that was stationed in our waters to strike a deal far more reasonable to the one previously negotiated by the APC.
Since then Freetown had enjoyed an appreciable electricity supply. The townships of Lunsar, Bo and Kenema have been struggling to have electricity but at least the Ministry has been able to work on a long term vision to ensure that these cities places have uninterrupted electricity.
But what has emerged off late that have further compounded the already existing electricity problems is the delays by the Ministry of Finance to honor bills presented by the Ministry of Energy for payment of Independent Electricity Power Providers especially the Turkish based Karpowership.
A credible source within government has hinted this medium that the Ministers of Finance and Energy are bitterly fighting for the Chairmanship of the Southern Region for the party in the forth coming elections.
Minister Kanja Sesay the incumbent is expected to face Minister of Finance Jacob Jusu Saffa head to head for the position.
It has been reported that Mr.Saffa has failed to maintain a cool head going into these elections and instead he had choose to use his office to frustrate the efforts of Government and the Ministry of Energy by holding on to payments for these IPP’s. This has led to the scaling down of energy distribution by IPP’s to the Capital Freetown.
For the last two weeks the Karpowership is rationing electricity supply to most areas in the capital that were used to have constant electricity.
Even though some schools of thought are maintaining that government is cash-strapped, the issue of electricity remains key and government in its wisdom is expected to put aside money to meet its contract obligations with the Turkish ship. The New Direction Government should not afford to return Freetown to the darkest city in the World.
Local political dynamics should not outweigh the provision of the basic needs of the people.
The Minister of Finance should know that he is only a custodian of the people’s purse and hence he should not use personal ego to determine who and who should have allocations.
Minister Kanja Sesay is doing a very good job and every other Ministry that should complement what his Ministry is doing should do so with precision or else the President who is the legitimate holder of the Peoples Mandate should act tough.
Electricity, fuel and rice are political hot commodities especially for residents of the capital Freetown and hence government should work towards addressing the issue immediately.