Ghanaians should consider the recent power outages they are experiencing as a return of the most dreaded ‘dumsor’.
That’s according to a Minority member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Adams Mutawakilu.
Adams Mutawakilu said the country has enough resources to provide adequate power, and the irregular power situation is a clear indication of the government’s mismanagement of these resources, hence the situation.
[contextly_sidebar id=”WOhaW88ClkBJORQceZd3KmYk4ZwLcwhg”]His comments come at a time when the Ghana Grid Company Limited, has attributed the blackouts to a drop in gas pressure at Aboadze, which caused a reduction in power generation from the West.
“It is evident that ‘dumsor’ is coming back. The excuses given by VRA and GRIDCO are not reasonable. If you talk about Aboadze thermal plant having challenges, we have excess power of 804 MegaWatts so they should have excess capacity in the power sector so that when one plants goes down, another one functions. So that explanation given should not be accepted by Ghanaians; they should take it with a pinch of salt.”
On Monday evening there was public outcry on social media over erratic power supply in the national capital –Accra despite several interventions by government to provide Ghanaians with a stable source of power.
Ignore GRIDCO, power outages due to liquidity challenges – Mutawakilu
Adam Mutawakilu also wants the government to be truthful about the recent power outages being experienced in the country.
He insists the explanation by GRIDCO is not tenable especially when there is supposed to be a power reserve margin that can be utilized in times of such shortfalls.
Speaking to Citi News’ Duke Mensah Opoku, the Damongo MP indicated that the outages are as a result of serious liquidity challenges in the power sector.
“The issue is that, there are serious liquidity challenges in the power sector irrespective the many assurances by government. This government is misapplying the ESLA bond that John Mahama introduced to leverage the energy sector.”
Excerpts of statement by GRIDCO
The power challenges were as a result of sudden drop in gas pressure at Aboadze which caused a reduction in power generation from the West. GRIDCo had to call on other thermal plants in Tema to restore full power supply.
GRIDCo assures the general public that there is enough generation to meet power demand. We are working with all power generators to ensure continuous supply to all customers and will keep the public informed of further developments.
Dumsor Era
Many Ghanaians are yearning for what has been christened as ‘dumsor’ to become a thing of the past.
This is because; Ghana for the past years has been experiencing erratic power supply which has led to the collapse of businesses.
In 2014, the then National Democratic Congress (NDC) in a move to alleviate the effects of the crisis, imported two power ships to augment the country’s current power supply. It also imported some plants from Ameri Power in that regard.
It also created a Power Ministry to resolve Ghana’s power crisis, which slowed economic growth and frustrated citizens with frequent power cuts and scheduled load-shedding popularly referred to as ‘dumsor’.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government since assuming power has taken a number of steps to avert the situation, but it seems the government itself may be struggling to manage the situation.
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By: Nii Larte Lartey | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
