Of Dumsor And Vultures

Following the news can be a most soul-destroying exercise. But can we ever avoid doing it? The world will march on unconcerned, reducing the money in your pocket day after day, whether you follow the news about how and why your poverty might be increasing, or not!

Trump won!
The Electoral Commission chose to appeal to the Supreme Court over the disqualification case, although one didn't need to be a lawyer to conclude that it had no case.

And Ghana lost to Egypt 2-0 in a World Cup qualification match, bringing memories of how low our football administration has sunk, what with the dollars-by-aeroplane episode in the last Word Cup competition in Brazil.

Isn't that enough to becloud one's morning?

No! You haven't seen anything yet! Here comes a headline that can drive you over the edge unless you hold tight to your seat in the seatbelt-less-trotro vehicle that life has turned into in Ghana:

QUOTE:
“Vultures cause power cut – ECG explains recent dumsor

“The Director of Operations at Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG),Tetteh Ankamah Okyne, says the power cut the nation is currently experiencing is due to the activities of vultures and other birds...The company disclosed this last week when the Public Utility Regulatory Commission convened a meeting among the power producers, including VRA, Gridco, ECG, Asogli, among others, to ascertain the cause of the power cut being witnessed in Accra and certain parts of the country. As usual, the power producers and Gridco put the blame at the doorstep of the ECG, which, in turn, put the blame on the activities of vultures and other birds.

“The power cut being witnessed in Accra and certain parts of the country is due to the activities of vultures and other birds and we are working hard to address the problem,” Mr. Okyne stressed. Ghana has been facing a power crisis caused by a deficit in power generation for the past four years, forcing the country’s power distributor, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to run a load-shedding programme.

“Several businesses have complained about the debilitating effect of the power crisis on their businesses. The energy’s sector problems have been tackled ... for years but have not been resolved. On the contrary, performance has been declining. “I must say I was disappointed because if the vultures get angry now then the whole country will be engulfed in darkness,” Jimmy Johnson, a concerned citizen has stated, adding that, this is bizarre and shameful.” UNQUOTE

My involuntary reaction, when I read that, was to explode into Fanti, although I am not a native Fanti speaker:'Ebei oh!'

I could just as easily have broken into Ewe and said 'Tso!'

Or 'Mini serker sane ner?!' in Ga.

And so on and so forth. Or in plain English, “What the f@*k!” You get the picture.

Why the expletives? It's because not only does the Chief Operations Officer's explanation for the latest episodes of dumsorsound extremely unlikely but in proffering it, the gentleman assumed that members of the Ghanaian public

are so stupid that they would swallow any lame excuse that emanated from someone like him who is clothed with a grand-sounding title.

Well, I have news for him. The Ghanaian man-in-the-street is so savvy that he's been asking questions of an immensely relevant nature, some of which I shall have the pleasure of relating to him presently.

First question: how many vultures attacked the cables which he says caused the dumsor? Did they attack as individuals or did they hatch a plot and come as an army (echoes of the film The Birdsby Alfred Hitchcock?)

Second question: was this the first time vultures had attacked electricity cables? If so, what type of carrion has the Electricity Company been employing of late to coat its cables and pylons with as to attract the creatures?

Third question: aren't high-tension pylons and cables supposed to be insulated to prevent a successful curtailment of their performance by man and beast alike?

And finally, how long has electricity been produced and distributed in Ghana for? Why is this the first time we are hearing officially that 'vulturematics'have affected operations to such an extent that they have caused a crisis which the Chief Operations Officer has found expedient to relate to the public? If such incidents have occurred in the past and yet the Electricity Company hasn't been telling us about them then what's the relevance of telling us now? Does it not suggest that in the past incidents such as that were thought -- and rightly so -- to be too insignificant to relate to the public?

Now suppose such things really do happen: why hasn't the company been able to put an end to them? What are we to think of such a negligent Company and its officials?

When I read what the Chief Operations Officer had said, I thought at first that maybe he wasn't qualified for his job. But a quick check of his biography established that he holds a Bachelor of Science Degree as well as an MBA! WHAT? And yet he could say a thing like that?

I am completely baffled. Of course, he will probably think it odd that members of the public are “ignorant” if they refuse to accept his explanation. Well, before he says that, let me relate to him some of the things the public have been saying and let's see whether it is he who is ignorant, or they: (See:)

http://www.ghanaweb.com/ GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/ Vultures-cause-power-cut-ECG- explains-recent-dumsor-486624

QUOTE 1:“These fools think that every Ghanaian is stupid and foolish like that? [Let] them ... continue lying; nobody cares! They can even burn ECG -- who cares? Mmoa [beasts] like that!”

QUOTE 2: “TWEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ”

QUOTE 3: “I guess these are NPP vultures (!) and birds sent to sabotage this [NDC] Govt? Your lies will catch up with you.”

QUOTE 4: “Today, vultures. Tomorrow, I guess it will be the wind, followed by spiders, cockroaches, termites and even later on, mosquitoes. The authorities (government) should stop undermining the intellect of the public.”

QUOTE 5: “This is a lie. Vultures are Gh. and Gh. is vultures. They never had anything to do with lights since inde[pendence]. Why Mahama time? Nonsense!”

QUOTE 6: “Is that how low you take us for, and this sounded good in the ears of the PURC?”

QUOTE7: “WHEN THERE IS WATER SHORTAGE, THEY BLAME IT ON TILAPIA. WHEN THERE IS CORN SHORTAGE THEY BLAME IT ON WATER. NOW ELECTRICITY TOO, THEY SAY VULTURES!

QUOTE 8: Poor vultures and birds, they cannot talk and defend themselves. THE CAUSE OF THE DUMSOR IS THE INCOMPETENCE AND THIEVING (insult deleted). They have blamed everything from water to oil to gas but continue to leave out the main culprit the incompetent (insult deleted).

QUOTE 9 : LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES AND LIES. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE FOOLING? YOURSELVES! STOOGES AND IDIOTS

QUOTE 10: “Sometimes I feel ashamed to see these news headlines b'cos if any of my non- Ghanaian friends see this, they will just laugh; especially when I keep bragging to them about how advanced Ghana is!”ENDQUOTES.

By the way, there are similar comments where these came from!

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