Power consumption demand increases between 7% and 15% every year – MP
‘We seem to be sleepwalking into a situation of possible power outages’ – MP
Former power minister, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has warned that Ghana might soon return to the days of “dumsor” if urgent steps are not taken by the government.
Dr Donkor said that the crisis might resurface again because the current government has not added significantly to the country’s energy generation capacity even though the demand for electricity keeps on increasing significantly.
The former power minister, who said this at a press conference in Accra, urged the government to put in measures to greatly increase Ghana’s generation capacity within the next two years to avert the looming power crisis.
“... this country is most likely to face load-shedding in the next two years if urgent steps are not taken from this moment to increase our power generation. Power consumption demand increases between 7% and 15% every year, and it takes a minimum of three years to bring on stream a new thermal plant.
“We seem to be sleepwalking into a situation of possible power outages as a result of supply limitation,” he said.
Between 2014 and 2015 Ghana saw erratic power outages which was termed ‘dumsor’.
In 2019, Dr Donkor, who is the Member of Parliament for Pru East, debunked the assertion that dumsor was a 'thinking problem' as it was levelled against the NDC government by then running mate of the opposition candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
According to him, Ghanaians all over the world have been excelling when it comes to academic work, therefore, a Ghanaian can think, hence "Thinking alone is not enough", he added.
Dr Donkor believes the major cause of 'dumsor' was financing the country's energy production sector.
Watch the former power minister's statement at the press briefing:
