One Man Protest Against Dum-So-Dum-So

In light of the progressively steady nature of recent load-shedding power cuts, I cannot fathom that with a country of a great many brilliant minds, we have chosen to accept the mediocrity of a monopoly power service provider ECG, and an apparently unconcerned government led by John Mahama without question.

I have no political agenda but to see our country able to support its masses with basic utilities for dignity in living and a clear ability to woo investors to develop our fledgling economy.

Between the repair of the West African Gas Pipeline, repayment of ECG's disputed debts to Sunon Asogli and their substation repairs, what amount of financial investment is required to end this nightmare which has so brought us crashing to our knees, that is not available either through our coffers or local finance?

Are we tightening our belts sufficiently to meet our growing pains as a nation? Or are we waiting for grants from the international agencies?

Is there justification in paying ex-gratia of GHC 62 million to Members of Parliament when we cannot claim to have potable running water and steady power supply as a country?

Please see below a generic text which I first prepared as a personal statement in protest against these power cuts due to the monopolization of the industry by ECG, its non-performance and the clear misinformation and apathy from the government.

I would encourage you to publish this and invite your readers to fill in, sign and send back to you for collation.

I hope that we can generate enough evident public dissatisfaction with the situation to deliver a clear statement to those who matter locally and internationally that we can and should be able to manage our affairs better.

Ultimately I demand clear, decisive and selfless action by the President of Ghana and the Managing Director of ECG, to ensure that we, the people, are afforded the dignity we so rightly deserve.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sir,
I am a/an _____________ by profession.
I earn GHC_______ a month.
My landlord collects rent of GHC _____ per month.
Every month, I purchase fuel worth GHC_____ for my own vehicle to travel to work.

Every month, I also purchase GHC ______to load my prepaid electric meter to power my home.

In the last four months I have spent GHC_______ per month to fuel a backup power generator. This is to:

keep the fan on at night, so we can sleep comfortably

prevent the food in our fridge from going bad, and
keep the lights on to maintain security of our home and possessions

The fuel is purchased at full price, with no subsidies or vouchers even though I have been failed by a monopoly service provider, ECG.

I continue to pay taxes on said fuel, which I effectively use to correct the mismanagement of my previously paid taxes.

This mismanagement is evident because I do not have a steady reliable power supply.

I cannot afford to live like this any longer.
I do not know when this nightmare is going to end.
I live in ___________ Ghana. My President is John Mahama.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please contact me if you would like to discuss further.

Regards,
Ama Ogbugo (Ms.)