Sierra Leone: Staying In Office While Freetown, Others Were Without Electricity Was Embarrassing To Me – Former Energy Minister

Sierra Leone’s immediate past Energy Minister Alhaji Kanja Sesay has said remaining in office while Sierra Leoneans, especially those in Freetown, the capital, were without power for days was an embarrassment to him, hence his decision to resign from his position.

“It was so embarrassing to me that for 10 days there was no power in Freetown because Karpowership had shut down,” Alhaji Kanja Sesay told Michael Creg Afful, Editor of energynewsafrica.com via telephone.

The Turkish power company – Karpowership – has been supplying power to Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone.

However, Alhaji Kanja Sesay said his country was not prompt in payment, resulting in an accumulated debt of about US$ 48million owed the company.

He said the last time his country paid part of the debt owed Karpowership was in July 2023.

The unpaid bills somehow affected the company’s operations, forcing it to pull the plugs which threw Freetown and other areas into darkness for days.

Last Friday, the sector minister, Alhaji Kanja Sesay, tendered his resignation letter to the President due to the power situation.

Alhaji Kanja Sesay told this portal that the decision of Karpowership brought a lot of pressure on him and businesses, for which reason he decided to step down so that someone else could take over.

Asked whether he resigned because there was pressure from the government or the citizens, Alhaji Kanja Sesay responded negatively.

He said, “I resigned of my own volition because the situation was getting to much.”

“The power situation was affecting lives and businesses and people were complaining,” he added.

Asked whether he was surprised that the government paid $17million to Karpowership few hours after he had resigned, Alhaji Kanja Sesay could not give a definite answer but laughed.

Continuing, he said he read a story that said Ghana owed independent power producers which include Karpowership about US$1.8billion and wondered why they acted badly in Sierra Leone.

Mr Sesay served as the Energy Minister for six years and was regarded as one of President Bio’s finest ministers during his first term in office.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com