Ashanti Region: Residents hold ‘dumsor vigil’, demand urgent action

Residents in the Ashanti region on Wednesday, April 17, held a vigil to express their frustrations over the ongoing power crisis.

Dubbed the “dumsor vigil,” participants, including traders, expressed concerns about the negative impact of the power outages on their businesses and the overall economic hardship they are facing.

They called on the government to address the issues contributing to the erratic power supply without further delay.

Dr Frank Amoakohene, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), criticised the government for mismanaging the country and leading it into economic and power crises.

He highlighted the failed promise of the current administration to end the power outages known as “dumsor,” pointing out that the situation has worsened and no clear timetable for the return of stable electricity supply has been provided.

“Akufo-Addo and Bawumia have together managed this country into crisis. They have managed this country into an economic crisis, and they have moved this country into a dumsor crisis. They campaigned on the backbone of dumsor that during their tenure, there will be nothing like dumsor, but there is a rebirth, a reincarnation of the dumsor, and the worst of it is that we don’t even know when the light will go off.

“Then the Energy minister had the effrontery to tell us that we should publish our timetable. So the youth of Ashanti region, we are out here to first and foremost publish our dumsor timetable.”

Asare Bediako, an actor and film producer, also joined the protest, questioning why there is a lack of power supply despite having enough resources for electricity generation.

He urged President Akufo-Addo and his government to take immediate action to end the power crisis and ensure that Ghanaians have access to reliable electricity.

“What we want to say is that now we have enough power, we have enough resources that we need to generate light, so why is the light not coming? What we want to tell our Akufo-Addo and Bawumia government and the NPP government is that we are tired, Ghanaians we are not angry enough and we want to demonstrate on this vigil to tell Nana Akufo-Addo and Bawumia government that that dumsor must stop and cease now.”

The convener of the vigil, Jerry James Sukah, also emphasized the need for a load-shedding timetable to provide transparency and clarity to citizens regarding power outages.

He criticized the government for its economic mismanagement, which has resulted in high inflation, currency depreciation, and a significant impact on the cost of living for Ghanaians.