At a time when Ghanaians are grappling with the unbearable effects of the erratic power cuts amidst a messy economy, the least anyone would expect is a sector minister, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, who has been captured in photographs kneeling before flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to rather display so much arrogance, insensitivity and disrespect towards the Ghanaian people he claims to serve—the very people his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), would hope to renew its mandate during the 2024 elections—the taxpayers whose sweat literally feeds him considering all the benefits he enjoys as a government appointee.
In the last couple of months, Ghanaians have experienced unannounced power outages, and calls on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to implement a load-shedding timetable have heightened as the challenge persists and continues to negatively impact lives and businesses.
Despite a March 18, 2024, order from the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to ECG to furnish it with a load management timetable by April 2, 2024, there has been no response yet, and of course, one would say the deadline is not due yet. Granted, the disruptions in electricity supply experienced by Ghanaians continue and are even getting worse.
In the absence of a deserved timetable, it was only fair for an official to calm the nerves of Ghanaians. However, the narrative was the direct opposite, as the body language, tone and diction of Minister of Energy Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) fan into flame the rage of Ghanaians.
Asking people who are demanding a timetable to produce it themselves is not only insulting but also a sign of insensitivity to the plight of Ghanaians and, by extension, a reflection of the government’s views.
NAPO’s words
In his recent controversial take, NAPO denied that Ghana was experiencing ‘dumsor’, that is, outages that warrant the publication of a timetable by the power distributor, the Electricity Company of Ghana. He told journalists over the weekend: “Ask those who want it to bring it, if there is. I haven’t seen any timetable.”
NAPO had earlier denied that the country has returned to the days of ‘dumsor’, as the erratic power supply in the country under John Dramani Mahama was referred to.
“If we are comparing four years, four years, NPP administration’s energy sector is 300 times better than John Mahama… it’s far much better than John Mahama ever did… “I’ve promised you that we are going to work on it, and it’s not a work that is a single event; it’s a process, and we’ll continue to work on it for the energy sector to become better,” he stated.
Ghanaweb.com
