Ghana: GRIDCo CEO Asked To Step Aside Over Switchyard Fire Incident At Akosombo Substation

Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, has directed the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Ing. Mark Awuah Baah, to step aside pending investigations into the recent fire incident at the switchyard of the company’s substation at Akosombo.

The fire, which occurred on Thursday, April 23, 2026, has since disrupted power supply across much of the West African nation.

Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, revealed this on Sunday, April 26, 2026.

A source at the Energy Ministry also confirmed the development.

“The Minister for Energy and Green Transition has asked the CEO of GRIDCo to step aside pending investigations into the fire incident at Akosombo’s power control center,” Mr. Kwakye Ofosu wrote on Facebook.

He also disclosed that there has been a major shake-up in the leadership of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti Region. The Minister for Energy and Green Transition will hold a major press briefing at 2:00 p.m. on Monday to address recent developments in electricity distribution and provide updates on the investigations and administrative actions taken so far.

This development comes just three days after the Energy Minister and his deputy visited Akosombo to assess the extent of the damage at the switchyard of the Akosombo substation following the Thursday fire.

The incident has led to a halt in power generation from the Akosombo Hydroelectric Power Station, preventing its power from being evacuated onto the national grid, which has caused outages in several parts of the country.

During the visit, the Minister announced that a seven-member committee, chaired by Ing. Dr. William Amuna, current Board Chairman of ECG, will investigate the fire incident.

According to the Minister, the incident is unusual and requires a thorough probe to uncover its root cause.

“The damage is quite extensive. It’s quite serious. From the briefing I received, there was a significant situation that we need to get to the bottom of,” he said.

He added that the committee is expected to present its findings within two to three weeks. “We expect that within two to three weeks, they should be ready with a report so that we can determine the root cause of this challenge and all the issues surrounding this unfortunate incident,” he concluded.

The outages, which have disrupted businesses and households in recent days, have triggered growing public frustration, with many Ghanaians demanding answers.