Ghana's Parliament faced an unexpected power outage on Thursday, February 29, disrupting proceedings during debates on President Akufo-Addo's State of the Nation Address (SONA). The outage occurred while outgoing Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, was defending the President's speech, prompting chants of “Dumsor, dumsor!” from the Minority side of the house.
The power interruption, colloquially known as “Dumsor” in Ghana, was quickly restored after a few minutes. However, the incident brought attention to a GHc23 million debt owed by Parliament to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), leading to a disconnection by the company's task force.
The disconnection affected the Parliament House and the office complex for Members of Parliament, Job 600. This development coincides with widespread complaints from Ghanaians about erratic power supply in the country.
Earlier on the same day, the Minority in Parliament expressed concerns about the power outages, attributing them to the government's inability to purchase fuel for the country's thermal plants. John Jinapor, Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, highlighted persistent load-shedding by power generation companies, describing the situation as worsening day by day.
Mr Jinapor disclosed a massive power deficit of 530 megawatts on February 28, resulting in power cuts to neighbouring countries such as Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Togo. He emphasized that several thermal power plants in the country are not functioning properly, leading to a significant reduction in power generation. The financial constraints faced by the government have reportedly hindered the purchase of enough fuel to operate these plants.
The Minority Spokesperson urged the government to be transparent and open about the power situation, providing citizens with the information needed to plan their lives accordingly. As Ghana grapples with the challenges in its power sector, concerns continue to mount, calling for swift and effective measures to address the persistent issues.