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The Minority in Parliament has challenged the government’s explanation for the ongoing power outages, insisting that the crisis goes beyond the recent fire at the Akosombo substation. They are calling for a clear load-shedding timetable to help consumers plan for power cuts.
This demand comes ahead of an expected address by Energy Minister John Jinapor during the Government’s Accountability Series today.
The fire at the Akosombo facility, which damaged six switches, has taken about 1,000 megawatts of power offline, worsening outages across parts of Ashanti, Central, and Greater Accra regions. However, Collins Adomako Mensah, Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Energy Committee, argued that the situation cannot be solely blamed on the fire at Akosombo.
“I’m not convinced that the situation is entirely due to the Akosombo incident. Even before the fire, the power supply was unstable,” he said. He pointed out that the government had previously cited ongoing system upgrades as the cause of the power issues.
“At the time, they told us they were upgrading transformers to stabilize the system,” he explained. “The fire has just worsened an already fragile situation.”
Adomako Mensah called for a load-shedding timetable to allow residents to plan. “A timetable would let people know that, for example, if it’s Monday, they can expect outages by Wednesday. Unfortunately, we don’t get that. We only find out when transformers are off,” he said.
He stressed that acknowledging the problem is the first step toward solving it. “If you admit there’s a problem, it’s a fair step to solving it,” he stated.
Although the government has been reluctant to use the term ‘dumsor’, Adomako Mensah argued that the reality on the ground is clear. “If you go home and your light is off, how else do we describe it? For us, it’s just dumsor,” he said.
He also highlighted the negative impact of the outages on businesses, including financial losses due to unplanned power cuts. “This is crisis management. Admit there is dumsor, and in the meantime, give a timetable so people can plan,” he urged.
Additionally, the Minority criticized a recent leadership shake-up within the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti Region, suggesting that the move could be politically motivated. While acknowledging that suspensions during investigations are justified, Adomako Mensah expressed concerns over comments from government spokespersons that have raised suspicion.
“The connotation is the unfortunate part,” he said, pointing out that public statements have linked the move to partisan interests. He referenced remarks by a regional party chairman suggesting changes in ECG leadership, noting that the timing of these comments fuels suspicion.
“To have the minister take this course feeds into the propaganda that he is following instructions from the Ashanti regional minister, which is very unfortunate,” he said.
Adomako Mensah urged authorities to avoid politicizing technical institutions, stressing that appointments in the energy sector should be based on competence rather than party affiliation. “Let’s allow institutions to work without political interference. If we don’t, we won’t make progress in solving the issue,” he concluded.
Story by Efua Nessa
Source: Loco tv