Barely nine months before the “Agyapadie Schemers” leave office, Ghana has once again been plunged into resurgent, unpredictable electric power outages. Termed “dumsor,” the resurgent energy crisis is reminiscent of the nation-wide electric power outages the NDC inherited from the NPP administration in 2009, and for which former president John Dramani Mahama was demonized, making it possible for Nana Akufo Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to rise to the presidency of the nation.
By the time President Mahama left office in January 2017, he had solved the dumsor problem, making Ghana a net supplier of electricity to neighboring countries. For nearly eight years in office, the Akufo Addo/Bawumia administration has failed to improve the nation’s energy situation. And now, a full-blown dumsor is back, making life unbearable across the country. As of now many parts of the country are in complete darkness.
The resurgence of dumsor is a serious national issue. The crisis disrupts daily life and poses serious challenges to the already collapsed national economy, which the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government is disgracefully waiting to hand over to the next Mahama administration. The full-blown dumsor is collapsing businesses, worsening the nation-wide unemployment situation, and damaging the country’s precarious healthcare delivery system. Hospitals across the country, for instance, are without electricity. What a shameful situation!
One wonders, however, why Ghanaians, both home and abroad, are almost silent about the resurgent, ‘full blown’ dumsor, when as a matter of fact, the Akufo Addo/Bawumia administration could have developed a sustainable plan within the past seven and half years to improve energy generation and supply in the country. Is the resurgent dumsor an intentional act on the part of Dr. Bawumiah and his boss to set up the next Mahama government on a difficult path? Is it a deliberate attempt to damage the reputation of the next NDC administration from the onset? These questions are worth probing into, considering how the NPP weaponized dumsor to win the 2016 elections.
Ghanaians should not pretend to be unaware of the danger that the resurgent dumsor poses to the nation. We cannot remain silent in the face of the gross mismanagement of the country and the energy infrastructure Bamumia and his boss inherited from the Mahama administration. The care-free attitude of the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government toward the resurgent power crisis and the blatant disregard for the welfare of the people should not be addressed with kid’s gloves.
What is deeply concerning in the wake of the new full-blown dumsor is the muted response from those who loudly criticized former President Mahama until he brought the crisis under control. This attitude, ostensibly informed by partisan and ethnocentric politics, does not augur well for the country. Every Ghanaian has a duty to draw attention to the issue, hold Akufo Addo and Bawumia accountable, and demand swift actions to address the crisis.
It must be reiterated, in conclusion, that the resurgence of dumsor under the watch of Dr. Bawumia and his boss cannot go unnoticed. Dumsor has exposed the gross mismanagement, incompetence, and failures of leadership and governance that has brought shame and suffering to the nation. The return of dumsor should remind Ghanaians that Vice President Bawumia is not an option. He has nothing good to offer. While he and his boss prepare to hand over to President Mahama on January 7, 2025, he must do the right thing: reverse the resurgent dumsor he has put the country in.
May God bless the people of Ghana and may he bless Ghana.
Thomas Elleamo Yankey
International Relations Consultant
