Mahama’s govt must act swiftly to avert dumsor – IES
The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has advised President John Dramani Mahama to take swift measures to tackle an impending power crisis in the country.
His remarks follow concerns raised by John Abdulai Jinapor, Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu, who claims ‘Dumsor’ looms due to insufficient fuel reserves for power generation.
Speaking in an interview, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES), Nana Amoasi VII, backed Mr. Jinapor’s claims, highlighting the weak state of Ghana’s power sector.
He attributed the power crisis to poor planning, stressing the urgent need for reforms to prevent prolonged power outages.
The IES and other stakeholders are calling for decisive action to address the situation and stabilise the country’s power supply.
“It is not something that we were not expecting. Being watchers of the space, we knew very well that we had a very fragile power sector stemming from systemic inefficiencies, including poor planning,” Nana Amoasi VII stated.
He emphasised the reliance on natural gas and the lack of adequate backup or stock of liquid fuel, which has left the country exposed to potential power outages.
“Today we are more reliant on natural gas, but thank God almost all the plants that we have in Ghana, excluding the hydro ones and the solar ones, can run on liquid fuel as well. But we knew that we don’t have any backup or any stock of liquid fuel in adequate form, so we knew that at a certain point in time, we could be exposed,” he explained in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Citi FM.
Nana Amoasi VII also expressed disappointment that no procurement or lifting arrangements were made during the transition to ensure a seamless power supply.
“Unfortunately, we were expecting that as part of the transition arrangement, some form of procurement or lifting would have been made to ensure that there is no gap left within the space, but our checks indicate that we don’t have enough liquid fuel to give us that reliance and assurance that we won’t have any shock in power supply,” he added.
The IES Executive Director appealed to the current administration to take immediate action to address the looming crisis.
“So we will appeal to the men in charge today to get back to work and start work as soon as possible. Either than that, we are largely exposed,” he stated.
Meanwhile, President John Mahama has instructed the Chief of Staff to hold an emergency meeting with power sector players today, January 8, regarding the looming power crisis
The meeting, which involves various power generation companies in the country, aims at stabilising supply to prevent ‘dumsor’.