The Dumso Dumso Saga - Ghanaians are to Blame

The current spate of power outages in the country known as the Dumso Dumso phenomenom has created anger, frustration and much debate as to the nature of these power outages.

In the heat of this frustration and anger the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has come in for much criticism in its inability to deliver power to the country.

Whilst the ECG has that responsibility to generate electricity for commercial and residential use, in my view, they are not entirely to blame for the current crisis.

Again President Mahama has come in for much unwanted criticism in some quarters for his inability to end the Dumso Dumso Saga which is NOT of his making and those who chastise him are doing so purely for cheap political pointscoring which will take us nowhere.

If anyone is to be blamed, I blame governments' of Ghana after 1966 for failing in their collective responsibility to plan effectively and strategize for electricity provision and we the Ghanaian consumer.

This article will seek to explain why this is the case and to offer solutions to the problem

A great Afrikan named Malcolm X once said “of all of our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research”.

This means that in order to have an understanding and appreciation of the current electricity crisis facing the country, one needs to go back into history to identify the genesis of the problem.

Through legendary foresight and vision, Ghana's first president Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah understood that electricity and the supply of electricity was crucial to Ghana's industrial development and nation building.

By the way the concept of electricity came out of Afrika with Black scientists from Ancient Ethiopia and Ancient Egypt pioneering this process.

In more contemporary times, Black scientists like Louis Latimer and Granville T Woods were at the forefront of developing the technology in electricity to what it is today.

So it is a tragedy that electricity which came from the mind of the Black man of antiquity is something that the Black man of today especially in Afrika is struggling to grapple with.

Coming back to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who understood the importance of electricity to national and industrial development initiated a feasibility study into the supply of electricity for commercial and domestic use.

The result(s) of this feasibility study was the construction of the Akosombo Dam and the framework for the subsequent development of the Bui Dam. The Bui Dam for the record IS NOT AN NPP initiative - it is factually and historical inaccurate to suggest the Bui Dam was the conception of the NPP.

At the time, the construction of the Akosombo Dam was a grand edifice that had never been conceived in modern day Afrika.

The purpose of the Akosombo Dam was twofold. First its construction was to aid in Ghana's rapid industrial development by providing energy to the numerous factories that were being built.

Secondly it was to supply electricity to Ghana's growing population and also as an income generator by exporting electricity to other West Afrikan states to help in their development.

In January 1966, the Akosombo Dam was officially inaugurated by President Kwame Nkrumah meeting both commercial and domestic needs.

Indeed, the Akosombo Dam generated much power that Ghana became a net exporter of electricity to neighbouring West Afrikan states.

The Akosombo Dam was constructed in such a way that the only way power outages could occur would be if the huge barges that powered the dam were not properly maintained.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had the great ability to plan ahead. As such he recognized that industrial development would continue to expand and that the nation's population would also continue to grow.

This implied that the Akosombo Dam alone would NOT be sufficient enough to meet the future energy demands of the nation.

This was the primary reason for laying down the framework for the development and subsequent construction of the Bui Dam.

Sadly after the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, the development and construction of the Bui Dam was put on hold.

It is only in 2007/2008 that with the realization of future power demands that the concept of the Bui Dam was resurrected with its construction completed in 2013.

So in essence the construction of the Bui Dam is 50 years to late and this in part explains the nature of the precarious power supply in the country.

If Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had not been overthrown, the Bui Dam would have been completed and complementing the Akosombo Dam in supplying electricity to Ghana's expanding industrial drive and its growing population.

Subsequent governments' from Acheampong to Rwalings to Kufuor to the late Atta-Mills failed to recognize the above and were devoid of ideas of improving the supply of electricity to the country.

Another reason for the precarious nature of electricity supply is the poor maintenance of the barges of the Akosombo Dam.

The huge barges of the Akosombo Dam are what powers the whole edifice and generates/supplies energy to the power stations that feed the national grid.

Years of neglect meant that the capacity of the barges to function at its optimum level was not realized, hence problems with power generation and power supply.

It is this realization that enabled the last NPP administration to commission an American company called Balkan Energy to repair the damaged barges.

Balkan energy were advanced millions of US Dollars in order to ensure that the rehabilitation of the barges were complete.

However, Balkan Energy did not fulfill their part of the contract and failed to repair the barges.

It is the failure to repair the barges of the Akosombo Dam that has compounded Ghana's energy needs.

The failure of Balkan Energy to deliver is totally unacceptable and demonstrates a lack of effective leadership on behalf of the last NPP government by not being assertive enough with Balkan Energy and insisting that they complete the job which had been assigned to them.

Perhaps the most fundamental reason for the power outages are the attitudes of some Ghanaian consumers of electricity.

This is proven by the ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas' investigation into the rot at the ECG.

What Anas' investigation revealed is that due to the unscrupulous nature of some Ghanaian consumers of electricity, the ECG is owed a colossal amount of about US$300 million.

It is estimated that the ECG needs around US$700 million to improve the system.

Well if we were all law-abiding citizens and god fearing people like many of us claim to be, we should ensure that the ECG gets all of the money owed to it enabling it to perform its duties.

Anas' investigation revealed at the time some very well known and established companies operating in Ghana including ECOBANK Ghana, Vienna City, Tema Steel, Movenpick Hotel, Alisha Hotel, Frankies and Irani Brothers amongst many others owe the ECG huge sums of money.

Also it was uncovered that there are some very high profile individuals and even state institutions that owe the ECG huge amounts of money for failing to settle their electricity bills.

In advanced countries failure to pay one's electricity bill would result in legal action being taken and/or a severe fine showing that in Ghana our legal instruments leave a lot to be desired.

Again Anas' investigation revealed numerous Ghanaians cheating the ECG, the government of Ghana and you and me by illegally connecting electricity to their premises without any remorse.

Again it was revealed that some staff of the ECG illegally sell electricity meters to consumers and pocket the cash, thus depriving ECG of much needed revenue.

Conclusion:
What Anas' ground breaking documentary highlights is that some individuals, state institutions and corporate entities are willingly and knowingly getting electricity without paying for it and conniving with some corrupt ECG staff to conceal their nefarious deeds.

This is robbing not only the state but the ECG who desperately need the money in order to improve the quality of electricity that is currently being supplied.

It is also depriving law abiding Ghanaians of constant and reliable electricity supply.

The supply of electricity is a key component in the country's national development.

Without it Ghana is not going to achieve the industrialization it aspires to.

Electricity is also important to the citizenry as it enables them to carry out functions like cooking, cleaning, washing, doing homework etc. with peace of mind.

As a country it is totally unacceptable and unchristian for some to cheat the system by avoiding payment and/or resulting in unscrupulous means to get free electricity.

If we are serious in wanting to see Ghana develop into a first world economy, we must ALL play our part as patriotic and responsible citizens by doing the right thing.

Doing the right thing in this instance is paying your electricity bills on time and stopping the practice in illegal electricity connections. In the next edition we will look at solar energy as a means to permanently solving our energy crisis.