Dumsor: NPP, NDC have failed - Jantuah

The major political parties that have governed the country in the fourth republic: the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the biggest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), have been complacent in the area of electricity generation, an energy analyst Kwame Jantuah has said.

According to him, the lingering power crisis in Ghana started creeping in since 1992, therefore, it was incumbent on the major parties to have instituted a long-term plan to deal with the problem, as was done in other countries such as South Korea.

Speaking on local television station TV3 on Saturday, July 9, Mr Jantuah said: “Unfortunately, the parties that have been in power since 1992 have been complacent [in the power sector]. Why have they been complacent? We know that the hydro source of generating electricity was up and down both in the NPP regime and the NDC regime from 1992.”

The CEO of African Energy Consortium continued: “When things like that happen, what do you do? You put a long-term plan for power in place. Go to South Korea today, they put a 20-year plan for power in place, so, any government that comes, they follow the plan. Let us take today; Ghana, where is the plan for power?

“The whole world is saying power is the thing that will make your country either industrial or non-industrial. When dumsor [power crisis] happened, we were all in disarray, some people lost their jobs, people went to the market, bought food, put in their freezers, the food got spoilt and so where is the plan?”