Energy Minister refutes claims financial challenges cause of ‘dumsor’

The Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has denied claims that the ongoing power outages in the country are a result of the lack of funds for power transmission company, GRIDCo.

This follows allegations made against the government, by some policy think-tanks, that it is failing to provide the necessary financial resource for the various power companies, which is causing the ongoing power fluctuations.

During his visit to GRIDCo, the minister insisted that the ongoing maintenance work has nothing to do with finance but rather some “complications”.

“The issue of financial challenges doesn’t even come in. They are doing the project we can all see so where does finance come in? As far as we can see the project is an ongoing project so it’s not about finances. It is just that if you are renovating your house sometimes it’s more complicated and more expensive than building a new one. These our lines were stranded; some from 1950 and some from 1965. The power it was supposed to transmit, Accra has expanded tremendously so they have given us lines that can improve the power situation in Accra. We just need the forbearance of Ghanaians because what we planning and what we are implementing is the best for them,” he said.

He further stated that there is no way the current situation can be attributed to dumsor because the situation is not about fuel shortage.

“We should all be truthful in our communication in 2016, the whole country gave us a period that we are off and we were all on. In 2016, the government of the day said it was a generation problem. Even the opposition talked about the government not having money to buy fuel, this is not a generation problem. This is not about fuel so how could it be Dumsor. Dumsor is planned and the timetable is rolled out and it has affected the whole country for 4 years, is that what we are seeing? Some of the systems because of the challenges is what we are feeling and so we have to bear with contractors to finish in time so we can enjoy the improvement we so desire,” he added.