Here We Go Again

William Hutton-Mensah, ECG Boss
We have heard all the interventions from relevant government agencies about the unexpected shortfall in electricity supply to consumers across the country.

This is coming after a firm promise from the President that the worrying power outages were over. Indeed, he even gave a deadline which we thought was not good for his image, given the possibility of a failure.

The effects of the discrepancy are far-reaching—something the authorities know too well. Indeed, if the issue has to do with a recession of the water level of the Akosombo Dam, Ghanaians, we trust, would bear with government. Not so when it has to do with planning our scarce resources and inputs such as oil and gas needed in the generation of electricity.

While some of the interventions sound convincing, others expectedly border on propaganda—outright attempts by people to save their jobs. We cannot fault such persons at this time, but let them be moderate in such efforts lest they incur the wrath of angry Ghanaians whose businesses are collapsing as a result of the mismanagement of the economy and the general spate of bad governance.

We are disappointed that President John Mahama has not lived up to the many promises about ensuring a sturdy flow of electricity. Indeed, it was a campaign promise by some party persons now occupying important ministerial appointments as they sought to deride the then NPP government.

The tables have changed today and the party, which made all manner of promises, is in power and exhibiting classic incompetency that some wonder whether they were ready for the arduous task of governance.

The shortfall in electricity supply could have been averted, had adequate planning and appreciation of challenges in future been taken into consideration. Unfortunately, those at the helm spent more time engaging in other less important issues and leaving energy issues to degenerate to a stage where we have to rely on incessant excuses from the presidency to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

It is amazing that at a time when speculations were rife about load shedding and therefore the publication of a timetable to that effect, same was debunked by government minders.

Now that the load shedding regime is back and a load shedding timetable published, we are lost for the appropriate words to describe those engaged in deflecting the speculations.

Let the authorities be reminded about the repercussions of erratic power supply to individuals and businesses in an economy already stressed to near breaking point and to respond more sincerely than we are seeing.

It is regrettable that Ghanaians are refusing to understand the excuses being put out by government—something not good for governance.

We pray that government would look beyond the limited confines of the corridors of power for those with the wherewithal and other inputs that could alter the current unacceptable situation for a country like ours.