Ghana Shouldn’t Have Experienced ‘Dumsor’ After 2017 – IES Executive Director
Ghana Shouldn’t Have Experienced ‘Dumsor’ After 2017 – IES Executive Director
- Nana Amoasi VII, believes that Ghana should not have experienced frequent power outages
- Nana Amoasi stated that the country had the necessary capacity to generate and supply power without any crises
- He also criticized the government for "suppressing information in the energy sector"
The Executive Director of the Institute of Energy Security (IES), Nana Amoasi VII, believes that Ghana should not have experienced frequent power outages, commonly referred to as “dumsor,” since 2017.
Nana Amoasi stated that the country had the necessary capacity to generate and supply power without any crises after that year. “With the opportunities and resources available to the current government in 2017, we shouldn’t have been facing dumsor because we had a high installed capacity of 4,300 megawatts,” he explained.
He went on to add that, despite the country’s current dependable power capacity of 5,100 megawatts, only 3,100 megawatts are being produced, highlighting a significant gap in production and supply.
In response to the ongoing power challenges, Ing. Asamoah David, acting Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), reassured the public that the situation was under control and power supply would improve in the coming weeks.
However, Nana Amoasi disagreed with this optimism, stating that the assurances from the ECG boss were not reliable.
He argued that the country had a stable power supply before 2017 and accused the current government of failing to manage the system effectively.
He also criticized the government for “suppressing information in the energy sector,” contrasting it with previous administrations when information about power supply was more accessible to the public for analysis and improvement suggestions.
Before 2017, under the John Mahama administration, Ghana struggled with widespread power outages, which gave rise to the term “dumsor.” Efforts were made to improve the power situation before the change in government to the Akufo-Addo-led NPP administration.
While power supply appeared stable for much of the current administration, recent months have seen a resurgence of intermittent outages, primarily due to the government’s failure to pay Independent Power Producers (IPPs) who support state-owned plants.
One of the major IPPs, Sunon Asogli, ceased operations in early October 2024 due to unpaid debts, and currently, three other IPPs have reduced their supply, with further cuts threatened unless payments are made promptly.
