LAST week, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) informed Ghanaians that very soon the ‘dumsor’ problem facing the country will see some improvement. Although the ECG could not provide the exact date that this will happen, it is obvious that that such an improvement in the energy sector will occur in April, this year.
ACCORDING to the ECG Public Communication Directorate, this is due to the arrival of some power badges in the country. However, what Today finds it very intriguing about this latest information is that at the same time when the ECG is promising the country of an improved power supply, some companies like the MTN has expressed disquiet about the already existing load shedding timetable.
AND inasmuch as we do not want to doubt the ECG, we want to believe that what it intends to do to ensure that the energy situation in the country improves is not a mirage. This is because over the years, the ECG has been very inimical to both commercial and domestic users thereby inadvertently resulting in untold hardships on Ghanaians. It is in the light of this that we want to tell ECG not to this time around toy with the lives of Ghanaians.
THERE is no gainsaying the fact that no economy can thrive well on intermittent power supply and for that matter it is incumbent on the government and the power providers in the country to sit up and walk the talk. Probably, what the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) government does not know is the fact that majority of Ghanaians are running out of patience as a result of the energy situation and that the earlier it does something about it, the better.
WE cannot continue to talk about the private sector being the engine of growth when what is supposed to drive it to become the engine of growth is not available. In fact we can say without any form of contradiction that the country’s dwindling economy is largely due to the irregular power supply that has hit the country for the past three-and-a-half years.
AND if the current administration led by President John Dramani Mahama has anything to do to earn a place in the history of the country’s political dispensation then the president must gird its loins and work rather than casting insinuations and throwing tantrums in the air without any justifiable reason.
THIS is the more reason why the president should take the power providers, especially the ECG and his appointees who are in- charge of the energy to task if they fail to deliver. And while we are urging President Mahama to do that we also think it is important for the government to provide all the necessary resources in terms of funds to help the energy sector to deliver on its mandate.
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