Former President and National Democratic Congress (NDC) Flagbearer, John Mahama, is urging the government to confront the escalating power outages, commonly referred to as ‘dumsor,’ by unveiling a transparent and well-defined load-shedding timetable.
Recent electrical disruptions across the country have prompted Mahama’s call for openness and accountability.
Addressing the issue during his “Building the Ghana We Want” Tour in the Upper West region, Mahama emphasised that Ghanaians are well aware of the ongoing load shedding but lack a clear schedule.
Drawing upon his experience as a former president, Mahama noted that he kept the public informed during his tenure about challenges and the corresponding measures taken to address them.
Expressing concern, Mahama stated, “When I was president, if things were not going well, I told the people of Ghana that things are not going well and this is what we are trying to do about it. I think my honesty was one of my major problems because I didn’t think I should fool my people.”
He highlighted the current administration’s lack of transparency in addressing the power issues, asserting that a failure to provide a detailed timetable for load shedding leaves the public in the dark about when to expect outages.
The seasoned politician explained, “Today, every day you sleep and the lights go off, and we know that they are shedding load. They have a problem with generation. Some generation assets are down. They have a problem with paying for gas. They have a problem with paying for fuel, so every day they are shedding between 280 and 480 megawatts of power, but they will not give us a timetable and say you will be off today, this one will be off tomorrow because that is what Ghanaians know as dumsor.”
Mahama’s plea underscores the need for a clear strategy to manage the ongoing power challenges and provide citizens with essential information about the timing and duration of outages, effectively addressing the nation’s concerns surrounding ‘dumsor.’