Akufo-Addo’s claim of electricity stability in the last few days misleading-IES

The Executive Director of the Institute of Energy Security (IES), Nana Amoasi VII has challenged President Akufo-Addo’s assertion that the country experienced electricity stability in the last few days.

During the annual May Day celebration in Accra, President Nana Akufo-Addo revealed that the hard work of government officials has ensured a constant power supply within the last few days despite challenges in the energy sector.

“I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Ghanaians for their patience and understanding during the recent temporary challenges with electricity supply across the country.

“Over the period, the issues surrounding transformers and gas supply have been successfully resolved, resulting in sufficient improvement in power supply reliability.

“Indeed, over the past few days, we have witnessed stable electricity supply across the country with no load-shedding reported anywhere yesterday.”

“For the past seven years, we have worked tirelessly to keep the lights on, and I am confident that the unfortunate era of dumsor will not return,” he added.

However, in an interview, Nana Amoasi VII stated that the President’s declaration did not reflect the actual situation.

Nana Amoasi VII pointed out that several areas, including Weija, Ekumfi, Mankessim, Nungua, and Tema Community 2 and 25, experienced power outages between Tuesday and Wednesday as well as some deficits in the power system.

He emphasised that the president’s statements should be based on the reality of the situation, not just what his advisors tell him.

He expressed concern that the president’s handlers might not be providing him with an accurate picture of the ongoing power issues.

The IES boss urged the president to be cautious with his pronouncements, as they could potentially mislead the public about the true state of the country’s power supply.

“The first thing that we picked from the president’s statement is that today he is admitting that under his tenure, there has been dumsor. And so he made it clear in his statement that the load shedding that we are seeing is probably normal, to say that the issues have been dealt with is misleading and we pray that the handlers of the president will rather lead him than mislead him. Sometimes the president looks awful in the eyes of industry players, the watchers and even consumers.”

“I am sure any pronouncement that he made is contingent on what they tell him but he must be very careful because the handlers are not putting out what the issues are. The value is the same. We’ve just seen a bit of change last night but if the president says that yesterday we didn’t experience dumsor anywhere around the country, that is untrue. I can recount some few places we have checked,” he stated in an interview on Citi FM.

Electricity consumers have been experiencing unstable power supply in various parts of the country.

Consequently, the Minority in Parliament, civil society organisations (CSOs), and energy sector players have called for an ECG load-shedding timetable to help citizens plan their daily activities.

In a speech in commemoration of May Day, President Akufo-Addo revealed that the hard work of government officials has ensured a constant power supply within the last few days despite challenges in the energy sector.