On Friday 26th April, 2024; Sierra Leoneans across the country woke up to the news of the resignation of the longest serving Minister of Energy Alhaji Ibrahim Kanja Sesay. The news was received with mixed feelings, for some including opposition politician Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, the decision was a great one which shows the country still have few honourable men with integrity. But for others Kanja stayed too long and was still unable to solve the country’s perennial electricity problems.
Alhaji Kanja’s decision to resign came after the country witnessed one of its most devastating blackouts in recent years. The country’s main power producers Karpowership and TRANSCO_CSLG shut down their operations because of the government failure to pay what they described as a long over due debt.
Alhaji Kanja’s resignation saw the massive turn of event in the energy sector. Hours after announcing his resignation, the Ministry of Finance disbursed US$18.5 to the country’s power producers Karpowership and TRANSCO-CSLG. Below is the press release from the Ministry of Finance on the disbursement of the fund.
“The general public is informed that the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA), engaged the management of Karpowership to resolve the current energy challenge in Freetown on Thursday, 25th April 2024.
Following these negotiations, the Ministry of Finance has paid US$ 17m to the Karpowership to reduce outstanding obligations.
In addition, the Govenment has also transferred US$ 1.5m to TRANSCO-CLSG to ensure continued power supply from Cote D’voire.
The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy and EDSA will further engage with the respective independent Power Producers (IPPs) to renegotiate the current contracts to sustainable and reliable energy supply.”
The public is further informed that the Ministry of Finance will deepen engagement with the Ministry of Energy and EDSA to roll out reforms that will ensure the financial viability of the Energy Sector.” They stated.
The decision by the Ministry of Finance to disburse the funds immediately the Energy Minister resigned, has left tongues wagging as to why the funds were not disbursed earlier. Many see it as sabotaging the outgone minister to make him look bad and incompetent.
A few moments after the Ministry of Finance press release, Karpowership issued theirs informing the public of their decision to restore the supply of full power capacity after weeks of low power production. They commended the Government’s effort and continuous communication with them to help resolve the fuel payment and supply chain problems that has allowed them to restart operations swiftly. A decision that was received with a huge sigh of relief as electricity supply in especially Freetown is expected to return to normalcy.
As stated earlier, the resignation of Alhaji Kanja sparked series of events in the energy sector. A press release from the State House indicates that President Bio has taken over the Ministry of Energy.
To many, this is an added task for the president who has a lot of issues to attend to.
To them, the president must appoint a substantive minister of energy while he goes about curbing the many problems in the country currently.
For many, the president’s direct supervision of the Ministry is a great move that will massively see improvement in the energy sector.
With such analysis, one is left to wonder as to whether the challenges in the energy sector will be resolved permanently.
EDSA over the years have raised concerns about the increasing rate of electricity theft in the country especially by big companies and the non payment of electricity bill by MDAs.
What EDSA is facing today has been a sleeping tickling time bomb that has been neglected for so long.
EDSA can easily handle defaulting MDAs by embarking on massive disconnection and prosecution until such bills are paid.
Karpowership and TRANSCO-CSLG for now provide huge amount of the electricity we consume as a country, but to many it is not a permanent solution to the country’s electricity problems hence they call on the government to speedily find a lasting solution; a solution that is already available only if government can for once see reason to invest in completing Bumbuna Hydro which will solve all our electricity headache.
News 24 publication
