By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
A Former Minister of Power under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, says Ghana’s electricity generation capacity has been greatly challenged.
The former Power Minister, who is the current Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru East Constituency, was reacting to the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.
President Akufo-Addo mentioned in his address that his government has managed the energy sector with discipline and expertise, which has led to a stable supply of electricity.
“Mr Speaker, between 2012 and early 2017, there was nothing more demoralising than the phenomenon we called Dumsor. It was symptomatic of a dysfunctional system, and it caused widespread depression among businesses and households.
After that experience, my government was determined that DUMSOR would not be inflicted upon Ghana and Ghanaians under an NPP government, and I am glad to be able to say, SO FAR, SO GOOD, we have managed to keep the lights on these last seven (7) years, even in the midst of a financial crisis.
We have managed the energy sector with discipline and expertise, to avoid a repetition of the hardships inflicted on Ghanaians some years ago.” He alluded.
But Dr. Donkor believes Mr Akufo-Addo’s claim is false. According to the Pru East lawmaker, Ghana is experiencing some level of ‘dumsor’ and that power supply to Togo, Benin, and Ivory Coast has been cut.
“The government can lay claim that there has not been load shedding, which is not accurate. Indeed, two days ago, we were shedding 600 megawatts at peak and we have consistently shed load in the last month.
In fact, our exports to Togo, Benin, and Ivory Coast have been cut because we have not been able to generate enough power, and every Ghanaian will testify to that,” he told journalists.
