Egyapa Mercer blames power outages on commercial challenges

The Deputy Minister of Energy, Andrews Agyapa Mercer has stated that the recent power outages that hit the nation occurred because of commercial issues.

Flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, has accused the government of playing politics with the power crisis ostensibly to hand over the problem to the next administration even though the same was resolved under his presidency.

Addressing a stakeholders meeting in Sogakope as part of his two-day Building Ghana tour in the Volta region, Mr Mahama indicated that the country is currently in a deeper mess than Ghanaians are made to believe.

He added that the next NDC government under his watch will require not only the trust but also, the collaboration and patience of Ghanaians to be able to bring the country back to its feet.

Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah, the Deputy Minister stated that the issue of power outages also known as ‘dumsor’ has been resolved by this current administration.

“If there is a commercial issue like it happened two days ago and so WAPCo curtailed gas transportation on their system for about 24 hours or so and it is restored I am not sure that will qualify as dumsor. We have to have a definition. My understanding of dumor is what I have given you that it is when the issue is protracted.

“There is a schedule that runs into months like Mr. Mahama’s period. In fact, it has run into years but for the past seven years we have never had such a situation. So if anybody comes to you and say dumsor is back because of an incident that person must be explaining to you how that amounts to dumsor for which Ghanaians should believe him,” Mr. Agyapa Mercer

“And quickly add that we are differing it. So that in the very unlikely event that he comes to power just as he was unable to find the resources to buy the fuel to power the plants when he was president. That is what he is preparing your minds for to start accepting that if he comes he is not going to prioritize getting fuel to power the plants and so you sleep in darkness again.”