Current ‘dumsor’ not going away any time soon – Edward Bawa

The MP for Bongo and a member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Edward Bawa, has noted that the ongoing power crisis, popularly known as “dumsor,” is likely to persist for an extended period.

Mr Bawa, a former PRO for the Energy Ministry, attributed the current power challenges to the lack of financial resources available for purchasing fuel.

According to him, the government’s inability to pay Independent Power Producers for fuel procurement is hindering the generation of sufficient power to meet the country’s needs.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Tuesday, April 9, Mr Bawa urged Ghanaians to brace themselves for further power outages.

He stressed that unless the Akufo-Addo government takes deliberate steps to secure funds to address the issue, the power crisis will continue, adversely affecting both the Ghanaian people and businesses.

“I think that we are not coming out of this crisis soon because it is an issue of finance and unless the government deliberately look for money to solve this problem, it is not going anywhere. There are a number of generating plants are capital-intensive projects and they all have insurance policies and as part of their insurance policies usually have scheduled maintenance and should they not do it, what then happens is that if any mishap occurs, the policies do not cover it,” he said.

On the other hand, he also criticised the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for its refusal to publish a load-shedding schedule.

The Bongo MP argued that ECG’s reluctance is a key factor contributing to the recurrent nationwide power interruptions witnessed in the nation.

“ECG’s failure to issue a load-shedding timetable is the consequence of the consistent total blackout that we have been experiencing in the country, most times because usually the person in charge of your network in this case, GRIDCo will automatically shed load by taking off the areas with his highest load demand to ensure its equipment are safe,” he added.

Source: myjoyonline