A stalwart of the ruling government, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has responded to the ongoing power outages in the country, emphasizing the need for immediate action.
With the government’s machinery doing everything to dismiss the fact that dumsor has indeed raised its ugly head again, Otchere-Darko’s statement highlights the existence of a problem whose origin he says is unknown.
He points out that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) successfully ensured a consistent power supply throughout their time in power, making the current dumsor crisis a thing of the past.
In his post shared on Facebook and sighted by Tru News Report, he questions the mysterious factors contributing to this problem, considering that the NPP managed to maintain stable electricity for seven years, even during the economic crisis in 2022.
There is something mysteriously amiss somewhere. You have managed to keep the lights on for 7yrs, even during the height of the economic crisis in 2022. Why now? Still scratching my head…
Meanwhile, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Energy Minister recently suggested that Ghanaians should come up with their own schedules if they believe there is a power outage issue.
At the NPP campaign team inauguration in the Ashanti Region, he urged citizens to devise their own timetables if they felt it was necessary.
He questioned the need for creating a timetable when the ECG has confirmed that no such plan exists.
Following the backlash, the Ministry released a statement on Tuesday, March 26, emphasizing that Dr. Prempeh was merely stating facts.
The Ministry of Energy has taken notice of the spin around an interview granted Joy News by Energy Minister, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh on the margins of the inauguration of the New Patriotic Party’s Ashanti Regional Campaign Team last Sunday.
The rather innocuous statements of the Minister as captured by the interview have been distorted to portray him as being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians and thus, we wish to avert the minds of Ghanaians to the context of the interview and clarify as follows:
1. The Minister dismissed the need for a load management time table because in his view and as indicated by the Electricity Company of Ghana, the causes of the temporary power challenges are being addressed. The Minister in the clip said, “Addressing the issues is not an event” which is rightly so.
2. The Minister’s comparison of the current energy sector to the one under former President John Mahama, where Ghanaians reeled under pervasive ‘Dumsor’ for 4 years, comes on the back of recent similar calls in the media space by the NDC Flagbearer for a load management time table. This call, in the view of the Minister is borne out of the quest to score cheap political points. In fact, a careful listen of the interview will show that, the comparative template was set by the interviewer.
3. In the said clip, the Minister is clearly seen straining his voice because of the obviously noisy background, in order to be heard by his interviewer. This has unfortunately been misconstrued. Dr. Prempeh is known to be very media friendly.
4. The Honourable Minister has always been sensitive to the plight of the Ghanaian people and continues to ask for their forbearance, as has always been the case when challenges relative to power stability emerge AND
5. The Ministry wishes to assure the general public that the Ministry as the policy maker and mother agency of the various power sector actors is working assiduously with these agencies to ensure that the temporary challenges are resolved.
