Ghana’s special envoy to the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, has stated that the country plans to enhance cooperation with the AES to ensure that their ‘peoples’ have sustained access to electric power.
In the wake of intermittent power cuts last year, the government of Ghana issued a directive to curtail the export of electricity to neighbouring countries, including Burkina Faso.
The Chairman of the Energy Committee of the 8th Parliament of Ghana, Samuel Atta Akyea, subsequently explained on JoyNews that President Akufo-Addo’s decision demonstrates the President’s prioritisation of domestic energy requirements over potential profits from exporting electricity.
Former Power Minister Dr Kwabena Donkor, at the time, expressed a differing opinion and cautioned that Ghana could face economic and security complications due to a reduction in electricity exports to Burkina Faso, which, other than solar energy, relies on Ghana for electricity.
However, in a move widely considered part of the normalisation of relations with Burkina Faso, Ghana’s Minister of Energy, John Abdulai Jinapor, has held talks with a ministerial delegation from Burkina Faso, at the request of Ghana’s Special Envoy to the AES, to discuss matters related to electric power demand and supply, as well as other energy-related issues.
In a post on X, Ghana’s envoy explained that when citizens at the local community level feel equitably empowered and live in dignity, the risk of resorting to violence as a means of rejecting the status quo is minimised. He added that making electric power available to local communities is one critical way of establishing government presence, enhancing inclusiveness, and opening up a myriad of opportunities that would keep citizens meaningfully engaged and economically productive.
“Ghana is, therefore, very firmly committed to working with the AES to ensure that our ‘peoples’ have sustained access to electric power as part of the journey to attaining regional peace and stability,” the post indicated.
President John Dramani Mahama recently completed a tour of member states of the AES—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—as part of his ‘good neighbourliness’ tour, just weeks after the three countries exited the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
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