Senior Vice President of IMANI-Africa, Kofi Bentil, has accused political appointees and technocrats who manage Ghana’s energy sector of exploiting the system for personal gain, claiming many of them leave office significantly wealthier.
Speaking on Joy News on Saturday, June 7, Bentil said the persistent crises in the energy sector are not merely technical or financial, but rooted in a culture of incompetence and corruption that benefits those in charge.
“The people who run the energy sector—check—when they leave, they leave very rich,” he stated.
He argued that successive governments have failed to bring discipline and transparency to the sector, allowing entrenched interests to profit while ordinary Ghanaians bear the brunt of inefficiencies through higher fuel prices and new levies.
Bentil linked the new fuel tax to a broader problem of misgovernance, warning that it is unjustifiable to keep imposing financial burdens on citizens without fixing the structural issues that drain public resources.
“The problem in our energy sector will not be solved by taxes. It’s a problem of incompetence and corruption,” he said.
Bentil also noted that despite past interventions like the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA), the underlying problems remain unresolved.
The GHS1 fuel levy, introduced under the Energy Sector Levy (Amendment) Bill, 2025, is expected to generate GHS5.7 billion annually.
The government has pledged that all revenue from the levy will be ring-fenced for critical energy-related expenditures, including debt repayment and fuel procurement, ensuring a stable power supply.
