Residents in the Ashanti region organised a vigil on Wednesday, April 17, to show their dissatisfaction with the prolonged power crisis.
Known as the “dumsor vigil” participants, especially merchants, voiced worry about the harmful impact of power outages on their companies and the general economic hardship they are experiencing.
They urged the government to solve the issues causing the inconsistent electricity supply without further delay.
Dr. Frank Amoakohene, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), chastised the administration for mismanaging the country and plunging it into economic and power crisis.
He emphasised the present administration’s failed pledge to eliminate the “dumsor” power interruptions, noting that the situation has deteriorated and no clear timeline for the resumption of reliable electrical supply has been offered.
“Akufo-Addo and Bawumia have together managed this country into crisis. They have managed this country into an economic crisis, and they have moved this country into a dumsor crisis. They campaigned on the backbone of dumsor that during their tenure, there will be nothing like dumsor, but there is a rebirth, a reincarnation of the dumsor, and the worst of it is that we don’t even know when the light will go off.
“Then the energy minister had the effrontery to tell us that we should publish our timetable. So, the youth of Ashanti region, we are out here to first and foremost publish our dumsor timetable.”
Asare Bediako, an actress and film producer, also joined the demonstration, querying why there is a power outage while having the resources to generate energy.
He asked President Akufo-Addo and his administration to take quick action to terminate the power outage and assure Ghanaians’ access to dependable energy.
“What we’re saying is that we now have the power and resources to make light, so why isn’t it coming? What we want to tell our Akufo-Addo and Bawumia governments, as well as the NPP administration, is that we are weary, Ghanaians are not furious enough, and we want to demonstrate on this vigil to remind Nana Akufo-Addo and the Bawumia government that the dumsor must stop and end immediately.”
Jerry James Sukah, the vigil’s leader, emphasised the importance of a load-shedding timeline to offer residents with transparency and clarity on power shortages.
He chastised the administration for economic mismanagement, which has resulted in high inflation, currency devaluation, and a huge increase in the cost of life for Ghanaians.
