Members of the Minority in Parliament have urged the House leadership to summon the Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempreh, to provide an update on the government’s actions to address the recent power outages.
The Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, expressed concerns about the adverse effects of the power cuts on households and businesses during the presentation of the business statement for the upcoming year on Friday, March 1.
Mr Suhuyini emphasized the need for the Energy Minister to brief the House on the power situation and the reasons behind the inconsistent power supply.
He highlighted the challenges faced by people and businesses in planning their activities and programs, urging the leadership to ensure clarity on the ongoing power issues.
The MP for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, shared a distressing incident involving a National Service Personnel trapped in a Parliament lift during a power outage.
He stressed the importance of the Energy Minister addressing the House to provide explanations and insights into the power sector’s developments, allowing MPs to inform their constituents about the situation.
“Many people and businesses are unable to plan their activities and their programmes and they also sometimes have to find extra money to power their generators for their businesses and many people do not know what is happening.
“They are told that there are planned and unplanned programmes and load is being shed, so it is important that the leadership of the House makes it possible for the Energy Minister to brief the House next week on the power situation and why fellow countrymen and women have to deal with the on and off situation. Ghanaians need to understand why they sleep in darkness.”
“My issue has to do with the erratic power supply. Just two days ago, there was a National Service Personnel who was trapped in one of the lifts when the power went off. She was traumatized when she finally exited the lift and so are we able to quantify the psychological trauma that people go through as a result of this and so it is essential that the Minister for Energy responds to this House to explain to us so we can explain to our constituents what is happening.”