SPACE AND DISCOURSES OF MODERNISATION: ELECTRICITY AND STATE LEGITIMACY IN GHANA AND TANZANIA

Ivn Cuesta
PhD candidate, University of Edinburgh
i.cuesta-fernandez@sms.ed.ac.uk @africanstates

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

Outline

Explore the ways in which African political elites are addressing the challenge of the de-legitimating effect of low performance in electricity delivery
Reciprocally compare Ghana and Tanzania, as they diverge in political and electricity sector regime environments Explore how public discourses become spatialised according to diverse spatial patterns of electrification

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

The puzzle

Dismal performance by public utilities in granting access and delivering electricity i.e. loadshedding, blackouts
But mixed electoral consequences and/or contentious politics (Briggs 2012; Nugent 1999, 2001, 2007; Tripp 2013; Winther 2010)

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

Overarching research question

How do African states exercise control over their populations across national territories (under electoral regimes)?

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

The historical legacy

Electricity sector regimes - e.g. South Africa, Ghana & Tanzania Patterns of electrification i.e. spatial access, sources of generation

Coquery-Vidrovitch (2004), Showers (2011)

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

How to look at the puzzle

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

The reciprocal comparison between Ghana and Tanzania

Analysis of secondary literature about regional and sub-regional patterns of electrification Interviews key informants such as: Policymakers in the Ministry of Energy Senior officials at ECG, VRA and GRIDCO headquarters Senior and junior staff at regional/local utilities offices Privileged users of electricity, such as businessmen/women Sample of users having differentiated access to electricity Observation of everyday interactions between utilities and users Discourse analysis

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

In this paper

Are political elites discourses (significantly) spatially different?

Do they diverge in terms of the legitimation claims they broadcast? Literature review of the history of electrification in SS Africa

Discourse analysis of:

Speeches, interviews, electoral manifestos and other texts by state actors, singularly Ministers of Energy (leaves aside reception of discourses) Most texts produced after 2008 (time bias) Limited to texts available on the Internet (bias in sources, as well as in favour of Ghana) Conducted throughout May 2013

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

Analysis and discussion - threads

The politics of megawatts, revolving around promises of universal access and ending shortages through expanded generation capacities, as well as portraying the state as if struggling with natural forces

Though the system maximum demand of 833 MW portrays the impression of a comfortable system demand margin, there are appalling occasions that we encounter power shortages especially during periods of bad hydrology. For example, due to dry spell facing the country, hydro generation at the time being is short of 230 MW (Managing Director of TANESCO) Between 2009 and 2010, the existing installed generation capacity was increased from the 1,810 MW to 2,085.5 MW () with the present generation capacity of 2,085.5 MW, there should be no problem at all in the power sector especially when peak time requires 1,321 MW (Minister of Energy, Ghana)

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

Analysis and discussion - threads

Spatialised discourses

The resolve of this Government in the medium term is to raise the accessibility of the three northern regions to that of the national average and even beyond (Minister of Energy, Ghana) [the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority] It envisions a Forested North by 2030 where agricultural production is modernized and oriented towards a larger market. These lofty ideas cannot be realized without the availability of reliable electricity supply (Minister of Energy, Ghana) This is Ga Rural area and I am determined to de-ruralise it () This was an area without development. Until I became MP in 2005, the constituency did not have a single public street light. I became Energy Minister and we now have several all over () The people are now safe because criminal activities have reduced due to the lights and the police presence in the containers (Minister of Energy, Ghana) In your speech you said that two villages in my constituency will get electricity in the rural electrification programme, but the villages are in actual fact in Same West, the constituency of your friend, Honourable Mathayo David () I warn you that I will not endorse your budget proposals (MP Kilango-Malecela, Tanzania)

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

Analysis and discussion - threads

Disciplinary discourses

If we want to remain poor, lets keep subsidising the tariff. But if we want to become a developed nation then we must get used to what is required (CEO Volta River Authority) What happens is that, maybe today you have a lamp, tomorrow its a television, and the next day it might be a cooker, but with time you come up with the living standard that fits your need (CEO Volta River Authority) This is Ga Rural area and I am determined to de-ruralise it () This was an area without development. Until I became MP in 2005, the constituency did not have a single public street light. I became Energy Minister and we now have several all over () The people are now safe because criminal activities have reduced due to the lights and the police presence in the containers (Minister of Energy, Ghana) The withdrawal of the application [for a tariff hike, made by TANESCO] has positive impact on consumers, in a sense that the long awaited upward tariff adjustments will not take place, at least for the time being (EWURA, Tanzania)

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

Analysis and discussion - omissions

Limited or no mention to big consumers of electricity e.g. VALCO, AngloGold Ashanti, Anglo Barrick
Hence, discourses in response to load-shedding exercises do not invoke any prioritisation in terms of who should get electricity first Narratives about subsidies are restricted to government subsidies, therefore avoiding to mention the possibility of cross-subsidies between industrial and residential consumers Practices associated to coercion and exchange are more difficult to identify in public discourses

Space, electricity & state legitimacy in Ghana and Tanzania

Conclusion

The similarities in the narratives of legitimation by state elites in Ghana and Tanzania suggest that differences are to be found in the actual practices involving state/non-state elite/social movements/citizens
This analysis seems to encourage the consideration of two (alternative) theoretical frameworks: 1) predatory theories of resource extraction, or 2) the search for the autonomy of state elites vis--vis other elites and intra-elite political settlements