The Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has rejected claims that the recent power outages popularly referred to as ‘dumsor’ are a result of financial difficulties.

The Minister insists that such claims are borne out of wishful thinking by critics of the Akufo-Addo administration.

Dr. Opoku Prempeh said this at the Minister’s press briefing on the theme, ‘Delivering Reliable and Affordable Power’ at the Information Ministry on Sunday, May 16, 2021.

Since the beginning of the year, some parts of Ghana have experienced power supply challenges including long periods of outages, low current, and intermittent outages.

While businesses have complained about the impact on them, others say they have lost electrical appliances to the outage.

For some persons, they believe government is not being truthful about the real cause of the problem.

One of such persons is the Ranking Member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Mr. John Jinapor.

The former Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum claims the problem is financial, and that the government wasn’t being candid with Ghanaians.

“Somebody is not telling us the truth, and in this difficult moment, when people are struggling, there ought to be clarity and certainty. If indeed power is not adequate in terms of the transmission line, tell the people of Ghana and assure us of what you are doing,” he said.

This claim the Energy Minister has rejected outrightly.

“These problems are not financial because the problems are being solved, and we pleaded with Ghanaians to bear with us. We work to make the power supply more dependable in the country. I also urge you to ignore those making wishful thinking on the situation.”

“The problems are being solved, and by the end of the year, we should have much stable power for all of us. Kindly bear with us as we fix these problems in our collective interest.”

Dumsor timetable coming to an end
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) released an eight-day schedule in April 2021 for some interruptions in power supply to some parts of the national capital for maintenance works to be carried out.

The power distributor explained that the timetable has become necessary due to the ongoing works on the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point, hence the need to shut down the transmission line, which will affect the Mallam Bulk Supply Point that supplies power to many households.

The eight-day exercise, which begun on May 10, 2021, is expected to end on Monday, May 17, 2021.