Deputy Energy Minister Andrew Egyapa Mercer has emphasized that the underlying challenges of the recent power outages being witnessed in the country have been fully addressed.
In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mercer disclosed that the Ministry of Finance had disbursed $10 million to the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo) on January 10, 2024, to ensure a steady supply of gas. This financial injection, according to Mercer, solidifies the government’s commitment to providing uninterrupted power to the nation.
Flowing from this, Mercer stated that there will be no more intermittent power disruptions from Thursday, January 11, 2024.
“What had happened over the past few days, is that some obligation owed by GNPC to WAGPCo was an issue. WAGPCo threatened, GNPC made some initial payments, it wasn’t satisfactory. We requested the Ministry of Finance to top up and it had to go through some approval process and as of yesterday [Wednesday] evening, following WAGPCo’s withdrawal of their service, the Ministry of Finance approved the sum of 10 million to pay for part of that debt. And so that was the hiccup that we had encountered and the outages for the past few days but that has been resolved”.
“Yesterday night, WAGPCo said it was going to restore and that was accordingly made from the West to the East, to power plants in the East. And so there is no ‘dumsor’ to warrant the shedding. So, we’ve dealt with it and WAGPCo is back”, he stated.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Deputy Minority Leader, on Wednesday criticized the government, denouncing its silence on the matter.
On Tuesday, January 9, 2024, certain areas in Accra encountered sporadic power supply issues, mirroring a recent persistent trend experienced in various regions over the past few months.
Expressing his dismay at the unsettling events, the Member of Parliament for Ellembele voiced dissatisfaction with the government’s failure to provide a comprehensive explanation to the Ghanaian populace.
Mr. Buah urged the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to release a well-defined load-shedding timetable, enabling households and businesses to make necessary arrangements.
“The absence of a load-shedding timetable exacerbates the challenges faced by households and businesses in planning effectively. The dearth of transparency and communication concerning the power outage schedule amplifies the frustration and inconvenience endured by the affected population.
“It is noteworthy that even during the most severe periods of Dumsor in the past, the power outage never reached the current 500-megawatt threshold being shed. Strikingly, the media affiliated with the NPP seem to downplay the situation as not constituting ‘Dumsor.’ Their resounding silence on the present circumstances is truly conspicuous,” he stated.
