Minority Spokesperson on Energy, Adam Mutawakilu wants government to concede that recent power outages are the result of challenges facing the power sector.
He said, unlike the erstwhile John Mahama administration which was open to admit to the challenges in the generating capacity of the power plants and subsequently drew a schedule to manage the load, the Akufo-Addo regime is playing mind games with Ghanaians.
According to the Damongo MP, the current situation which started way back in November 2018, had been occasioned by a shortfall in generating capacity.
Several parts of the country including the capital, were without power for long hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, without prior notice from power producers and the distributor, Power Distribution Service (PDS).
Public Relations Officer of PDS, William Boateng told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show that, residents in Lapaz, Abeka, Sowutum, Kasoa, Tema, Kwashieman, Odorkor, Pokuase and Awoshie experienced intermittent power supply because “there was a problem from our upstream suppliers.”
This Mr Mutawakilu wants government to admit and come clear.
Speaking Wednesday on JOYNEWS Upfront programme on Wednesday, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee wonders why government is refusing to acknowledge this but rather attribute it to planned maintainance by the producers and distributors of power.
“We are experiencing dumsor but these people have converted it into ‘planned outages’…since November 2018 we’ve been experiencing these outages but they are not planned,” stated.
Load management
The opposition MP also suggested to government to consider putting out load management schedule to save consumers from losing their gadgets food items to unannounced lightouts.
“The difference between president Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo is that president Mahama will openly admit and (say) that we should have a schedule…so that I can plan. But under Nana Akufo-Addo, all they say is technical, technical.
“However, you will be there and your lights are off and your food is destroyed. They should release the timetable to let Ghanaians know,” added.
But George Mireku Duker, Vice Chair of the Energy Committee in Parliament, whose NPP criticised then-ruling NDC’s handling of the power crisis between 2012 and 2015 and campaigned against it, has forcefully rejected the claim by the ranking member.
According to the Tarkwa-Nsuaem MP, the country is currently producing more that it needs and therefore, there is no way the nation will revisit the dreaded dumsor days.
“We are not heading there because we are over-producing…and there’s enough for us even to be supplied to other jurisdictions,” Mr. Duker argued.
To reinforce his point, Mr. Duker recalled a recent meeting between Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu and his counterpart in Burkina Faso chiefly to arrange for transmission of power from Ghana to the neigboring country.
“There hasn’t been any generational challenges,” he said.
Click to watch the full discussion:
