The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged the government to admit that the days of the much-feared intermittent power outages popular known as ‘dumsor’ are back.
According to the NDC, the handlers of the energy sector must publish a load-shedding timetable to enable citizens to plan appropriately.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) takes notice of the undesirable return of rampant and consistent power outages popularly christened as ”Dumsor”. We wish to register our dismay and discomfiture at the fact that the entire country has been experiencing power outages for months now; yet the Akufo-Addo government has refused to come clean on the true state of affairs as far as this worrying issue is concerned.
Whilst Government spokespersons, including the Energy Minister, have over the period resorted to stonewalling excuses, and sometimes crafty subterfuge in an annoying attempt to explain away genuine concerns of Ghanaians, it has now become as clear as daylight that we are indeed in abnormal times.
The fact of the matter is that, “Dumsor” is back; this has been corroborated by the African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP).
It is important for the purposes of recollection, to remind the Ghanaian people of recent litany of explanations proffered by government when this phenomenon began to rear its ugly head a few months ago. We were first told on March 12, 2019, that this problem was as a result of a disruption of the western transmission line and that the challenge was dealt with within 8 hours of its occurrence.
Then, on March 13, 2019, a different narrative emerged through yet another statement after the problem persisted. This time around, the blame was laid on the construction work at the Pokuase interchange which had resulted in the re-routing of another transmission line.
Government initially informed us that this problem was going to last from March 14 to March 19, 2019. Since then, the explanations and rationalization of this problem have varied considerably, depending on which government functionary is speaking.
The NDC reckons that in the situation we find ourselves, the least expected from the Akufo-Addo government is candour and truthfulness to the facts. The managers of the power sub-sector must be sincere and transparent with Ghanaians.
