A former Head of Communications at the Energy Ministry, Edward Bawa, has blamed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for the current challenges faced by the country’s energy sector.

Mr. Bawa, on Eyewitness News, said the ECG, under the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has failed to take some proactive decisions that would have saved the sector from its current state.

His concerns come in the wake of intermittent power outages, which have sparked fears that the country may be returning to the days of unstable power supply, popularly known as ‘dumsor.’

This is despite the fact that GRIDCo, Ghana’s power transmitter has, in various forums, said the challenges are technical and that the country will not experience ‘dumsor’.

The Bongo legislator disagreed, insisting that the challenges are the result of a lack of funds.

“Let us face this; the [energy] sector is under stress. The sector has a lot of challenges and most of them are as a result of finance. The upgrade [of transmission lines] and other things they are talking about should have been done earlier. The upgrade delayed, not because the funding was not there, but just because of the negligence of the ECG under the leadership of the government, and that has brought these challenges.”

He added that the sector’s challenges had resulted in an increase in the losses incurred by ECG.

“In terms of ECG losses, we have moved from 23 percent to 31 percent. This is what the Minister said during his visits,” said Mr. Bawa.

Amid concerns of Ghana returning to dumsor, the ECG has published a schedule for planned power outages in parts of the Greater Accra Region from 10th May to 17th May 2021.

It said these scheduled outages are to facilitate the work of various contractors on its different lines.