Power Cut Silences Debate in Parliament

A sudden power cut, compounded by an ineffective stand-by generator in the middle of a contentious Parliamentary debate forced the House the to stop sitting and adjourn on Friday. Members were discussing the decisions by Ministry of Education on the recent leakage of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) when power went off.

Education Minister, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, had formally informed the House in a statement about his decision to order a re-sit of the examination nation-wide. Clerk of Parliament, K.E.K. Tachie says it is the first time the stand-by generator has let the house down since its installation five years ago. He said a fault was detected on it on Thursday, for which he asked the designated caretaker engineering firm, M&G, to prepare an invoice for its repair.

He dismissed suggestions that the outage was deliberate to silence the Minority who had put Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi on the carpet for including the Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions in the re-sit even though there was no evidence that questions leaked in those regions. The Clerk said he would consult with the leadership of the House to reschedule the discussion.