Dumsor happened under Mahama, We’re in era of dum sie sie – Napo

Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempreh, has said that the power outages, popularly known as ‘dumsor’, only happened under the John Dramani Mahama presidency.

He explained that what was happening currently in the power sector is known as “dum sie sie” and not dumsor.
He made the point when, in adherence to the principles of democratic accountability, briefed the majority caucus of Parliament on the country’s power situation on Friday, May 3.

The minister also appeared before Parliament’s Committee on Government Assurance to provide updates, largely on electrification projects.

Current challenges
According to Dr. Prempeh, the difficulties in the power sector currently are mainly due to efforts being made to address the challenges. “I told you that when I got to the Ministry we’ve gone past the era where we had 72 to 96 days of lights out and six hours of lights on. We are in the era of dum sie sie which is profoundly different from dumsor, “he stated.

The Minister added: “Dumsor as inflicted on Ghanaians only happened during his excellency John Dramani Mahama’s governance. He is the only President on record that for four years that he reigned, for four years that he ruled, for four years that he governed, there was ‘dum dum dum.’ If the non-partisan colleague says that now it is worse, then I don’t know where his realities lie.”

Priority
Answering questions from members of the committee, Dr. Prempeh said the the government has prioritised the Ministry of Energy and some of its projects. Notwithstanding the prioritisation, he explained that “the IMF conditionalities have restricted the progress of some projects in terms of borrowing to finance the projects.
He, however gave the assurance that the projects would be completed once funding comes.

Coverage
Dr. Prempeh said Ghana is on track to achieve universal access to electricity, with 88.75 % of the population now connected to the national grid. “Our goal is clear, every village and community in this country deserves access to electricity,” he stated.

Commitment
Dr. Prempeh said the Ministry of Energy remains committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure that every part of our country is energized, which is a catalyst for socio-economic growth.