PRESIDENT John Dramani Mahama has announced that the current load shedding will see significant improvement starting Sunday, 7th April, 2013. The president, who was addressing a national thanks giving service at the Black Star Square in Accra on Sunday, said the current load shedding exercise, which has locally been christened the ?dum-so-dum-so? phenomenon will see an end soon.
?I AM happy to announce that from today [Sunday, April 7, 2013,] there will be no off peak load shedding,? he declared.
PRESIDENT Mahama explained that, ?off peak means when it is not the peak of use of electricity that is often during the day and at peak hours, load shedding will be limited to 80 megawatts only.? According to the president, the country started the load shedding programme with a deficit of more than 250 megawatts and ?we have been working around the clock to narrow this gap in terms of our power generation and I?m happy to say that we have narrowed it currently to a load shedding of 80 megawatts.?
?I?M certain that by the end of this month [April 2013] we would have overcome this challenge and Ghana will never see this kind of darkness again,? he assured. He said it is expected that the country would have enough power after the completion of the Takoradi T3 Plant and the Bui Dam hydro-projects; the restoration of power to the Asogli Plant would provide excess power to the country.
THE assurance from the president is undeniably good news that every Ghanaian would jubilate about, especially as many are not used to the usual power outages at night. However, this is something that the industrial hub of the country cannot do as power-outages in the morning mean less output and higher input.
TODAY does not know whether to trust the president, especially in the face of the numerous assurances on the issue which did not materialise. Addressing party supporters during the manifesto launch in the Volta Regional town of Ho, the president said the vision of the government is to produce 5,000 megawatts of power by 2015 that will solve the problem of load shedding.
AGAIN, his promise of ending the problem by end of March this year failed to materialise and the country have had to learn to live with the ?dumdor, dumsor? till date.? Againstthe backdrop of unfulfilled promises on the energy crisis by the president, Ghanaians are at a cross-road as to whether we should trust the president or not. He should be advised to be certain on issues before he approaches the public to give us false hope.
WE believe that the president?s advisors would save him from public ridicule if they deliver to him the true state of affairs in the country. He must also be advised to cross-check the facts presented to his outfit before coming public with that so as to save himself from public ridicule.
