Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante, has expressed his belief that the recent intermittent power outages (dumsor) will have an impact on the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming 2024 general elections.
He noted that energy issues are one of the factors voters consider when deciding which candidate or party to support.
Dr. Asah-Asante recalled that intermittent power outages during former President John Dramani Mahama’s tenure played a significant role in his electoral defeat, as the then-opposition NPP capitalized on it as a campaign issue.
“The elections that took Mahama home were fought on the basis of dumsor. This party [NPP] took advantage of that and drummed into the ears of Ghanaians and it formed part of the calculations or contributions that Ghanaians made in deciding who to vote for.
“Remember the dumsor economy which Dr. Bawumia made noise about which was legitimate at the time and the same legitimacy can be brought to bear on the current dumsor which the government is pretending doesn’t exist.”
Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante also criticized the government’s management of the current intermittent power outages, pointing out that citizens were suffering as a result. He emphasized the importance of the government acknowledging the challenges and demonstrating a commitment to resolving them.
“We feel it. We experience it. Let no one deceive himself or herself that the fact that you have not said it bluntly out loud means dumsor does not exist. It does and nobody can deceive anybody. Governance must be handled with truthfulness.
“Proceed with integrity, there is a problem. Just be forthright with it. Come out and say this problem exists, but as leaders, we will try and fix it.”