Power was restored to the Chamber Block of Parliament after an hour’s electricity outage caused by a trip in the system at the Electricity Company of Ghana’s substation at Achimota near Accra.
The House was thrown into partial darkness at about 1135 hours when members were deliberating on a number of loan agreements aimed at facilitating economic growth and infrastructure development.
Members then resorted to making jest of the now commonly used term “dumsor”, as some used the lighting systems on their cellular phones to read the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and other official documents.
A bewildered Minority poked fun at the government, shouting “dumsor, dumsor, adumdum adumdum,” meaning erratic power supply, and some questioning why the country was suffering the fate when government had procured many loans.
The First Deputy Minority leader who was taunted by the minority side, left the chamber, but came back to continue the proceedings when the lights were restored.
A source had earlier told the Ghana News Agency that Parliament’s standby generators were faulty.
But in a related development, the House is in the process of replacing its two ailing 19-year-old standby generators.
Ms Kate Addo, Parliament’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs told the media that the House had already started the process of procuring new generators, with approval from the Parliamentary Service Board.
“The process of acquiring new generators has started. At the moment, the Board has approved it and procurement process is being followed. So, I am sure that within the shortest possible time we will get new equipment and this will be a thing of the past.”
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