Friday, 18th July, 2025
Hon John Darko
Suame
Thank you very much, Hon Speaker, for the opportunity to make this Statement on the green transition and its effects on auto mechanics in my Constituency, the Suame Constituency, and to a greater extent, the over a million mechanics across the country.
Mr Speaker, His Excellency, the President, by Civil Service (Ministries) Instrument, 2025 (E. I. 1), created the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition. The creation of the said Ministry, in my view, signifies the intent and direction of the President in respect of the nation’s commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement. It also shows the country’s desire to gradually move from fossil fuel as a major source of energy to green sources of energy.
Mr Speaker, green energy is the energy source which has zero or minimum environmental impact, as more environmentally benign and more sustainable, and produced from solar, hydro, biomass, wind, geothermal, et cetera. It is believed that transitioning from the current fossil fuel, which is the coal, petroleum, and natural gas to green energy will help in the reduction of emissions and thereby saving the world from reaching the dreaded two degrees Celsius.
Mr Speaker, the green transition has led global shifts towards the use of electric vehicles as compared to combustion energy vehicles. Mr Speaker, this has significant implications for the country and my Constituency in particular. My Constituency is an industrialised area with many workshops for metal, artisanal engineering, and vehicle repairs, and provides direct and indirect jobs to about 500,000 Ghanaians.
Mr Speaker, across the country there are over 500,000 more workers who are also auto mechanics and depend on fixing combustion energy vehicles to make ends meet. Mr Speaker, the embracing by the world, especially Europe and Asia, of the green transition has led to proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) into the world and in Ghana. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), as of 2023, there were over 40 million EVs in the world, compared to 26 million in 2022 and zero in 2013.
Mr Speaker, the former Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, told the country in 2023 that there were about 17,000 EVs in the country. We also witnessed the former Vice President, His Excellency Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, in 2024, leading the importation of some electric vehicles into the country for public transportation services. Indeed, the former Administration had plans to introduce 1,000 electric buses and related charging and maintenance infrastructure for intra-city (40 per cent) and intercity (60 per cent) transport services.
Mr Speaker, I know the introduction of EVs into the country sounds good for the country’s nationally determined contributions to reducing emissions, but therein lies the difficulty my Constituency faces. The introduction of EVs are going to cause serious job losses in my Constituency. Mr Speaker, there is nothing more important in nation building than job creation. Indeed, it is when the people have jobs that they can pay taxes to the government to build the needed infrastructure. It is when the people have jobs that they can take care of their families and their loved ones.
The focus of every government, Mr Speaker, including this Government, I believe, is to create jobs. I am therefore afraid that our fixation on green transition, in my view, will take away jobs from over a million Ghanaians whose jobs depend on fixing combustion energy across the country. Mr Speaker, why do I say this? With the introduction of electric vehicles, combustion energy will be a thing of the past. With the phasing out of combustion energy, the workers who work on engine block, cylinder head, intake and exhaust valves, crankshafts, fuel system, lubrication system, gaskets and pistons, pumps, timing belts, water pumps, and those who sell oil filters and engine oil across the length and breadth of this country are going to lose their jobs.
Mr Speaker, I know the counter argument will be that as the world embraces renewable energy sources, as solar and wind power and move to EV usage, there will be an increased demand for mechanics who are skilled in maintaining and repairing these advanced systems and that this shift will open up new avenues for business growth and specialisation in EV maintenance and repair services. My question to this is, how many jobs will be created from this? Can the jobs that come with EVs replace the loss of millions? Even that, it requires an extensive training and upskilling of traditional auto mechanics to equip them with the knowledge and expertise required for the new technologies. What happens to our illiterate brothers and sisters, if I may put it that way, who have specialised in the combustion energy services enumerated above? Are we going to train our 50, 60 and 70-year-olds who have gained decades of experience in those fields?
Mr Speaker, I am afraid that as a country, we are so quick to accepting concepts like green transition, energy transition, climate change and the likes but we do really nothing on our own to escape their harsh realities. Do we have the hand tools and diagnostic instruments to accommodate the specific needs of the renewable energy systems and electric vehicles? How have we invested in the modern workshops, equipped with latest technology, which will obviously be essential to stay competitive in the evolving markets?
Mr Speaker, I know, unfortunately, my fear will come true. What was considered futuristic is now upon us. However, with the appropriate support and training programmes, these individuals can be integrated into the green economy, ensuring a just and an inclusive transition for all. This is what I expect the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition to do. Our Government, the Government of Ghana, must be deliberate and purposeful in this approach to replace the job losses that will come with the influx of EVs.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I hope that like-minded Colleagues will join me to lead a Private Member’s Bill, which will mandate the Executive to set aside funds to take practical steps to prepare our auto mechanics across the length and breadth of this country, and particularly my Constituency, with the needed skills and technology to face the eventual future.
I thank you, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity.
Hon Fred Kyei Asamoah
Offinso North
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to commend the maker of the Statement, Hon Member for Suame, on green transition and its effects.
Mr Speaker, green transition and advancement in technology is definitely going to disrupt jobs, but not only disrupting jobs, it is also going to create more jobs. In fact, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that green transition and green jobs is estimated to be about 24 million by the year 2030, and in Africa alone, about 3.3 million jobs are going to be created as a result of green transition. In fact, the United States now has about 6 per cent of its jobs as a result of green jobs and is expected to be moving to about 14 per cent. That means Ghana will not be different.
Mr Speaker, nobody will want to fight against green transition. Why? Because the auto mechanics are not only in Suame. When you come to Offinso North, in fact, we have auto mechanics in Afrancho, Akomadan and Nkenkaasu. But the sad truth is that our auto mechanics are exposed to toxic metals by the way of our work. You know, we moved from manual transmission cars to auto transmission cars, and now electric vehicles are here. I remember gone are the days when we used to take our carburetors out and used fuel to clean it ourselves. I could do it myself, but now I cannot do it anymore.
So, we have to prepare our generation and the current workers to be able to appreciate the transition we are going through. That means that we should not just put in policies, but Government should start investing heavily in electricity infrastructure and green energy. With this, we can develop more electric stations because electric vehicles have come to stay, and in no time, the same way people are hesitant in moving from manual transmissions to auto transmission; the same thing is happening. But by the time we realise, by 2030, we cannot count the number of automatic transmission vehicles in Ghana, but it will be more of electric vehicles.
That is why the previous Government started by developing curriculum for how we can maintain electric vehicles and this curriculum has already been developed. All that we need to do is not just put it on the shelves, but collaborate with all training institutions and public private partnerships, to make sure that this curriculum are used to train and retrain our auto mechanics; it does not matter where they are. If we are able to do that, we can also promote local manufacturing.
If we are worried about job creation, we need to start promoting local manufacturing because all the time, we are importing our vehicles. When it was manual, we were importing; when it is automatic, we are importing. Are we also going to continue to import electric vehicles in Ghana or in Africa? For these electric vehicles, please, this is the time that the Government has to put in all the policies, strategies and the investment that will allow us as a country to also produce electric vehicles in this country. We have the mechanics; they have the skills. When you go to Abossey Okai, they have the skills.
Like I said, if you come to Offinso North, Akomadan auto mechanics have the skills. This is the time and the time is now that we have to make investments in electricity and infrastructure that will support the development of electric vehicles and its usage so that we can create the jobs here back home. It is the time for us to do that.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Richmond Edem Kofi Kpotosu
Ho Central
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for indulging me.
If I understood my Brother on his Statement, his fear is that the mechanics at Suame will lose their jobs, and it calls for skills upgrade, but I want to make him aware that the engineers he sees in Suame are way ahead of even the EV cars, and I know that majority of them are upgrading their skills at a faster rate. So, please, when he goes to the Constituency, he should try as much as possible to visit them and get the updates from them. They will even educate him that when the cars come, this is how they are going to handle them.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for indulging me.
Hon Thomas Winsum Anabah
Garu
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity. I am very happy to hear my Brother over here crying for the good people of Suame.
I would cry for transformation of our educational system to meet current demands, because those in Suame today, by five or six years’ time, they may not be able to meet the exigencies of technology in this world unless they themselves transform themselves. So, there will be a need for Ghana as a whole to look at our educational system to see whether the products of our education are meeting current demands for development.
Countries like Zimbabwe and Rwanda are manufacturing electric cars. Somebody has even manufactured a car that uses electric frequencies to move and EVs have come to help the environment because combustion that is incomplete, I think the environmentalists will tell you, would cause a lot of damage to us, as human beings. If Ghana wants to stay up at the same level with other countries, we have to transform our educational system to ensure that we can also manufacture parts because the EVs are not done in one country. The parts come from several countries.
Why can we not tweak our educational system to ensure that we teach what the former MP has done — I would say it — the STEM system, where the children learn about robotics and the rest early enough in their life, so that when they grow, they have the love for engineering and technology, not only book and, at the end, they cannot even service a bicycle when it is broken. So, we need to tweak our educational system. It will even give more employment. For a small EV, if you count the components in it, they are several. Why can Ghana not also train thousands of people to manufacture some components of the EV or the solar system?
It will create jobs. So, to think that introducing electric vehicles in this country would take away jobs, to me, it cannot be factual. It cannot be proven anywhere. We rather need to upgrade our educational system to meet modern demands of technology and development. That is what I would say.
Hon Samuel Awuku
Akuapim North
Mr Speaker, I thank you and, also, let me thank the maker of the Statement.
Mr Speaker, I think the issues here also go to the very core of what many of our constituents also expect. The advent of industrial revolution in Europe came with its own attendant job losses. But the government of the day made a deliberate effort at that time to make sure that its citizens were properly cushioned. If I also listen attentively to the maker of the Statement, one of the cardinal recommendations that he also made was for the upgrade of skill and training for many of our people in the area of auto mechanics, its repair and maintenance. What I find also comforting is that our people are always yearning to upgrade and also learn.
I believe we need to embrace this whole green transition because that is where the world is heading towards. But I am also standing 100 per cent shoulder to shoulder with him because, in his constituency, his competitive advantage is in the area of repairs, maintenance and auto mechanics. And any disadvantage caused to the people there also has its own ripple effect. What I would also advise and challenge Government to do is to—
Now, we have the advent of the EVs and we cannot stop this advent and revolution and they gradually are even taking over greater space in terms of our automobile industry. But what we can do and do effectively is to make sure that Government, through its own channels—If we take an institution like the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), it has many young people, especially in the various models, that are created to train people into jobs and several artisanal training centres that they normally establish. I believe that the time then is now for us to also model some of the things we do to fit into plan of the Government towards the future because it is just like the issue of digitalisation.
At first, nobody ever thought that a time will come when one would not have to be called to the Ghana Post to wait for a phone call from a loved one abroad.
Now, through the mobile technology, a person can interact with friends and loved ones across the world. That is how the EVs are also approaching this generation. So, I will commend the maker of the Statement but challenge Government that we should not wait for it to take root across the country and then we will be thinking about how to upgrade our people and give them decent conditions as well.
Mr Speaker, I commend the Member for Suame for knowing that this will not just affect Suame but will affect EV mechanics in Fomena and in the Akuampim North and across the country.
Hon Tweneboa Kodua Fokuo
Manso Nkwanta
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, I will comment on the last two Statements, since we did not comment on the Statement made by Hon John Darko.
Mr Speaker, the issue of energy transitioning is really key, and I have to commend my Brother for making such a Statement. Mr Speaker, energy transitioning
— Mr Speaker, energy transitioning is happening at a fast pace across the world, and I believe Ghana, we need to be intentional to be part, otherwise, we will be left behind.
Mr Speaker, energy transitioning means saving the environment. It means being efficient with the resources that we have. It means improving on our health, because we will be releasing less carbon mono-oxide into the environment when we transition from combustion energy to the renewable energy that we have.
Mr Speaker, more specifically to the Statement, the issue of our mechanics not having the needed skills to work on EVs, that is electric vehicles. The issue is, a lot of the mechanics that we have now, learnt their skill using combustion energy, but now we have electric vehicles coming into the market, and the issue is how do we cope? How would our mechanics transition to be able to work on electric vehicles?
Mr Speaker, if you think about it, for new mechanics-to-be, we can take them through the TVET system and train them, but the question is what about those who are already in the trade, or already acquired the combustion technology? What do we do with them? Some of them are aged already, so they will struggle to go through the TVET system. How do we get them trained to be able to work on EVs?
Mr Speaker, the suggestion is that Government could come on board to help forge some collaborations between the automakers through their dealerships and the various mechanic hubs that we have in this country. So, in the specific case that was put across by Hon John Darko, we could have some of the mechanics from, let us say, Suame, collaborating with some automakers for training, either done here locally, or elsewhere; whichever is convenient. And when this technology is acquired, I believe they can then share among their colleagues as they come back to the hubs. This could be replicated across the country, being Abossey Okai or wherever that we need to train our mechanics.
Mr Speaker, this is urgent. Otherwise, we do not know how we are going to maintain the EVs that are coming into the market. Yesterday, I listened to the Minister for Energy and Green Transition. As he made his presentation, he said Government going forward is going to import some EVs to be given to government officials. So you ask yourself, if now it is becoming a government policy to bring in EVs to government officials, how are we going to maintain these EVs?
Mr Speaker, it is an urgent issue, and I believe if we forge collaborations, we will be able to train our mechanics to acquire the new skills.
Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh
Nsawam/Adoagyiri
Mr Speaker, may you permit me to contribute to the Statement made by Hon Darko on the Energy Transition.
I commend him highly and I wish to, from the outset, say that, Mr Speaker, right from the Paris Agreement, the concerns and the narrative has changed. We have signed on to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the Protocol on Kyoto and all the relevant conventions on the environment have been signed.
Mr Speaker, we are quick to sign these conventions, but implementation has always come in its wake as a challenge. I think, generally, the Statement by the Hon Member focused on the general output on Energy Transition, reduction of carbon credit and the carbon footprint, and then he zeroed in on electric vehicles (EVs).
Mr Speaker, the need for EVs is not lost on us. In fact, we have a policy on electronic vehicles as a country and we should be adverting our minds as to how its enforcement and implementation come up. Under the renewable concerns, the world now has what we call the rare minerals, thus, bauxite, lithium, et cetera.
Mr Speaker, Indonesia is producing its own solar panels because experts have said that close to 70 per cent of the raw materials needed for the production of these solar panels, batteries, mobile phones come from these rare minerals and many years after the discovery of these traditional minerals, gold and the likes, these rare minerals have become so important and Africa has a lot of it. Ghana has a lot of it. We should be leveraging on these rare minerals and make Africa important in the energy transition. We lost out on the industrial transition and a number of transitions as a continent. But the transition to renewable energy, Africa cannot be left out because of the rare mineral deposits that we have. We have a lot of lithium; Congo, Ghana and other countries across the West Africa sub-region have them in commercial quantities and this is where I think the discussion should focus on.
On the EVs, the Ministry of Transport should be telling us what the preparations and works are towards the enforcement of the EV policy, thus, charging outlets. We cannot talk about EVs when these charging outlets are not being developed. We cannot talk about EVs when the academia is missing. What is academia doing about it? We cannot talk about EVs when car garages and mechanics are not being tuned in terms of the preparation. So, when we import these EVs or even when we manufacture these EVs and they are faulty, who are the people who would resolve them? So, these are fundamentals and I think that it is not beyond us at all.
Mr Speaker, you are not a fan of referrers, especially in the face of the preponderance of referrers that are outstanding. I am not sure if I make an application for you to refer this matter, you would accede to my request. 2.48 p.m. We hope the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology would stay current and also carry this House along in the context of this subject matter and Ghana cannot be left out. We can borrow lessons—We do not need to reinvent anything.
Indonesia has set the tone. Kenya, for instance, has liberalised their energy sector so much that private entities have been given the opportunity and have been facilitated to import these panels and a lot of these panels are manufactured within. So, I think we should take a cue from all these happenings and advise ourselves as a country.
Mr Speaker, I thank you and I am grateful.
Hon George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan
Cape Coast South
Speaker, I rise to contribute to all the Statements, as we are doing an omnibus; we will comment on a couple of the Statements ably made by three Members of Parliament.
Mr Speaker, the green transition is already here. Across the world, we have over 40 million of these EVs that are driving around. In Ghana, we have over 20,000 of the EVs also here. The transition has begun and we need to transition all the areas that will, basically, support having this new technology. I do not think that the fact that we are going to have EVs means that we are going to be losing jobs. We will only do so if we do not retool and retrain the mechanics that we are worried might lose their jobs.
Mr Speaker, at the end of the day, if, just for instance, we have one million cars in this country, probably more than that, and they are on fossil fuel, Mr Speaker, if we go on green transition in terms of having the EV, we will still have a million cars. The million that was on fossil fuel will need to be repaired or they are being repaired at the moment so will the new one million that will also come if we replace these vehicles with EVs. So, we have to be ahead of the curve and being ahead of the curve is making sure that we are retooling our mechanics and they are getting the requisite training that they need to be able to repair these cars because they still will be repaired. The only difference is that they will go on a different fuel. One will be on electrical and the current ones we have will, basically, be on fossil fuel.
Mr Speaker, the problem is bigger than that. Because, as the world moves away into the new technology, it means that the old technology that we have— For instance, Ghana has joined the oil producing nations as far as Africa is concerned. We produce fossil fuel here which means that if all the vehicles should be moving and we no longer have a need for fossil fuel, our revenues that we get from oil will be going down. The question should be, how are we going to replace the revenues that we get from fossil fuel if we are no longer exporting them or using it ourselves domestically? Mr Speaker, we should embrace the future and not be skeptical about it that things will be bad.
Mr Speaker, things will only be bad if we do not embrace this new technology and make sure that we have actually trained people to take advantage of it. On the contrary, the new technology will rather bring opportunities into new areas that we will benefit from. As the Minority Chief Whip rightly said, a lot of these things that are going to happen to us with this new technology in terms of our energy space, which is actually in abundance here in Africa.
Everything that the new technology involves with this green transition is actually here. In fact, we are the world suppliers of these kinds of things. So, we can use them domestically to manufacture our own cars and to produce energy, whether it is hydro, wind energy or what have you. It will be of advantage to us and we will be able to create more jobs ourselves from it. We will also be able to earn more export revenue if we have them in abundance here and we are exporting them. I do not think that we should be too worried, but we should rather position ourselves in such a way that we take advantage, so we do not lose out, as the Minority Chief Whip said, as we have lost out in many new technologies and many new developments in the world.
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