Looming Power Crisis: ESLA was mismanaged – John Mahama

President John Mahama has said the
Energy Sector Levy (ESLA) was not used for its intended purpose, and the revenues from it were mismanaged.

In a meeting with stakeholders in the sector yesterday, he said the critical challenge in the energy was the debt and how to pay.

For this reason, he said his government then introduced the ESLA with the expectation that within five years, enough revenue would be generated to pay the legacy debt.

“After we passed it, we left office in December, and a new government came in, and they had other ideas and ways of doing things,” he said.

Against this backdrop, he said ESLA was not used for its intended purpose.

According to him, revenues of ESLA were mismanagement, “what should have gone into payment of the legacy debt was used for other purposes leading to the current situation.”

“While we take responsibility for solving challenges, we must let the Ghanaians know the challenge before we go to solve it,” President Mahama concluded.

By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme