The dumsor debate will never end. It is likely to be intense as we inch towards the 2024 elections, the reason for which is not far-fetched.
Every now and then the issues surrounding power generation and distribution pops up with some especially the NDC and its doomsday collaborators in the media, academia, civil society and some so-called energy experts predicting that load shedding is on the horizon.
These days even routine maintenance work by the ECG, GRIDCo and Ghana Gas is equated to dumsor for political reasons by those who wish that the NPP will be able to equalise the record of NDC from about 2012 to early 2017 when the nation as it were suffocated under dumsor.
During the period, businesses of all kinds; big and small as well as homes experienced economic difficulties as many endeavours were derailed. At the time, the NPP accused the Mahama-led government of lacking the ideas to fix the challenge. The party added that the problem was not about generation but the lack of money to buy fuel to support energy plants powered by gas and petrol.
The NDC went on a wild goose chase to get investors to sign bogus power purchase agreements which did not inure to the interest of the country. The major part of Ghana’s debt overhang is as a result of the power purchase agreement that the World Bank finds inimical.
Although we know that the policy of take-or-pay is inimical to our well-being, the NDC will not spare our ear drums with their ugly noises that the Mahama-led government did nothing wrong. The NPP government has so far spent a fortune on these Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and yet the NDC will not spare us their rationalisation of the policy which we can say without contradiction that it is part of our economic challenges today.
And quite strangely the NDC keeps arguing that they resolved the dumsor problem before leaving office in January 2017, but media review at the time point to the contrary. Mention dumsor to the NDCÂ and it will be like mentioning bones to an old lady. The NDC wants dumsor to get missing in our daily conversations but it will not go away so long as dumsor and its aftermaths like power purchase agreements hang on our necks like the sword of Damocles.
No Ghanaian who experienced dumsor wants to hear about that challenge because of the pain it brought to the people. No wonder President Akufo-Addo in inaugurating a Bulk Power Supply Point in Central Accra said his government will not tolerate the phenomenon of dumsor under his watch, as that is the legacy of Mahama.
Although Mahama left dumsor in the record books, President Akufo-Addo said he has willed it to former President Mahama. That garb fits Mahama and his NDC. That is why the NPP government, despite the challenges, is doing everything possible to keep the lights on.
This dumsor must remain with its allies. The NDC is the home of dumsor and in the unlikely event that they come back to power, they will mismanage the power sector again. For now and under President Akufo-Addo, let there be light and the national grid will give us uninterrupted power thanks to the men and women with the know-how.