Minority Blames NDC for Power Crisis, Demands Accountability on Dumsor Levy

The Minority in Parliament has accused the Mahama-led administration of incompetence in managing Ghana’s energy sector, insisting that the nationwide power outages predate the recent Akosombo incident and are the result of policy failures.

In a strongly worded statement issued by the Minority Leader, Afenyo Markin, the opposition dismissed government claims that the April 23 fire outbreak at the Akosombo Power Control Centre was the cause of the crisis. “Ghana’s power crisis, the dumsor that millions of Ghanaians have been enduring since January 2025, was not caused by any incident at Akosombo. It was caused by this government,” the statement read.

Collins Adomako-Mensah, MP for Afigya Kwabre North, and Deputy Ranking Member of Energy committee addressing the media, argued that the administration abandoned the Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP) inherited from the Akufo-Addo government, a framework negotiated with the IMF to address financial shortfalls in the sector. Despite Ghana’s installed generation capacity exceeding peak demand, the opposition said poor financial management, unpaid obligations to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), and revenue collection failures at ECG have crippled the system.

The suspension of GRIDCo’s CEO, Ing. Mark Awuah Baah, and leadership changes at ECG’s Ashanti Region were described as “political optics” rather than genuine accountability. The Minority insisted that responsibility lies with the Energy Minister and the President, not technocrats operating under financial constraints.

Beyond the outages, the statement raised concerns about the GH¢1 dumsor levy imposed on fuel, questioning the whereabouts of the funds. “No report on this levy has been presented to Parliament. No public accounting has been made. If it has been misappropriated, those responsible must be held accountable,” the Minority charged.

The opposition outlined urgent steps for government, including immediate implementation of the ESRP, clearance of IPP debts, a national infrastructure safety audit, and a full parliamentary briefing on the sector’s state.

Concluding, the Minority vowed to pursue parliamentary scrutiny, declaring: “Suspending a CEO, reshuffling a regional management team, and calling a press briefing are not an energy policy. They are the choreography of an administration desperate to be seen acting while refusing to confront the true author of this catastrophe: itself.”