The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has reassured Ghanaians that the country will not return to the era of prolonged power outages popularly known in Ghanaian parlance as ‘dumsor’ which was witnessed between 2012 and 2016.
According to him, his administration is fully aware that electricity is the driving force of every economy in the world and, therefore, has committed to keeping the lights on to enable Ghanaians to engage in economic activities.
The President was speaking at the commissioning of 161kV Accra Central Bulk Supply Point constructed by the Ghana Grid Company for US$40 million with funding from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
“I want to reassure all of you that my government will continue to work towards keeping the lights on despite the global dynamics of energy pricing because the alternative is not an option.
“We are not going back to ‘dumsor’. We leave that to President Mahama (former president),” President Nana Akufo-Addo retorted.
The prolonged power outages which were occasioned by generation shortfall between 2012 and 2016 resulted in the collapse of several jobs and threw hundreds of people out of jobs.
According to research findings by the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER), the University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana lost about GHS3 billion to the crisis.
The power crisis, according to ISSER, affected 885 small-scale enterprises, thereby, making them lose Ghs250 million, with 55 of them folding up.
The Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who also spoke at the commissioning, extolled the commitment of President Akufo-Addo to making sure that Ghana enjoyed stable and reliable power.
He said President Akufo-Addo promised in 2017 that his administration would ensure that the country did not return to the era of power crisis and he has done just done.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
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