Power crisis: Energy Minister does not care about the sentiments of the people – Kpebu

According to private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu, the recent remarks by the Energy Minister, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, demonstrate that he does not care about the sentiments of the Ghanaian people as far as the frequent power outages, locally known as ‘Dumsor’, are concerned.

The Energy Minister, who appeared before the Government Assurances Committee sitting on Friday, May 3, stated that Ghana is in an era of ‘dum sie sie’, which is different from the widely known ‘Dumsor’.

Furthermore, Mr.

Opoku Prempeh took a swipe at former President John Mahama for the erratic power outages that occurred during his administration.

Amidst a renewed wave of electricity supply challenges, criticism has surfaced, raising concerns among Ghanaians about the sector minister’s comments.

He asserted that Ghana has gone past the era where we used to have 72 to 96 hours of lights out and six of lights on, saying, “We are in the era of dum sie sie, which is profoundly different from dumsor.”

Speaking on TV3’s political analysis programme The Key Points on Saturday, human rights lawyer Martin Kpebu expressed displeasure with the Energy Minister’s comments before the committee.

Mr.

Kpebu noted that he had ‘Dumsor’ in his neighbourhood both on Tuesday and Friday, forcing him to work from his car.

“I’m just looking at it, tying it with the news that Ghana ranks fourth most stressful country for workers in sub-Saharan Africa, Look at Dumsor; that is part of the problem…last Friday I worked from my car and then on Tuesday.

READ MORE:

“Look, I think Napo [Matthew Opoku Prempeh] should be stopped from these things, he should be stopped.

He has no empathy for us, you go before a committee and when people are in pain, is that how you talk,” Mr.

Kpebu noted while echoing the Energy Minister’s comments before the Assurance Committee of Parliament.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo, addressing workers at the annual May Day celebration on Wednesday, May 1, said the era of power outages has been dealt with effectively.

According to the President, this follows the completion of the maintenance works on the faulty transformers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

“Issues surrounding the maintenance of the transformers have been resolved, Indeed, we have witnessed stable power supply across the country with no load shedding reported anywhere yesterday…I am confident that the unfortunate era of dumsor will not return,” said the President.