Gov't reluctant to publish ‘dumsor’ timetable because of politics – Oppong Nkrumah

Renowned Broadcast Journalist and NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said government has deliberately refused to publish a load shedding time table despite the worsening power outages.

Despite renewed power outages, Acting Power minister, Seth Terkper, insists that calls for a timetable to manage consumer expectations of power supply may be too early.

According to him, the current power outages are not expected to continue for a long time, hence no need for timetable. He explained that what consumers are experiencing currently in is an emergency situation, not a long-drawn out crisis, adding that it will be resolved sooner than it is feared.

In 2015 in the heat of the power crisis, government through the Electricity Company of Ghana issued a timetable. Consumers from time to time experienced 12 hours on and 24 hours off as government tried tirelessly to have the crisis solved.

Consumers were of the view that they were better off with the inaccurate time table rather than being left in the dark.

The Institute of Statistical, Social, Economic Research (ISSER) has quantified that that businesses lost $2.2million daily as a result of the power crises. But Seth Terpker claims it may be too early to have a timetable.

However speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo show Thursday, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stated tha government’s refusal to publish the time table is very worrying.

“I believe strongly that the reason why government has failed to come out with a time table is that fact that Ghana goes to a general election four months from now. President Mahama said in 2012 that before he exists office he would have solved ‘dumsor’, and he repeated that in his State of the Nation Address in 2015 that he’ll fix ‘dumsor’.

If the government should publish the time table it will amount to the President nailing himself. Government from a communications point of view does not want to accept that ‘dumsor’ is back again, but if your mother is dead and you claim he’s asleep, only time will tell.

“Businesses are the worst affect in relation to the power challenges since it started in 2012. ISSER has reported of the devastating effect of the power crisis on businesses and the huge number of people who have lost their jobs. If for political expediency, government refuses to admit that ‘dumsor’ has returned and publish a load shedding time table, the consequence is that cost will go up and a lot of people will suffer. Publish the time table so that people can adjust their activities appropriately.”