In a surprising event, the Parliament of Ghana was without light on Thursday, February 29, when it convened to deliberate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
It occurred when Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei was on the floor of the House speaking. This development saw the lawmakers lighting their phone lights to brighten the chamber.
According to Metro TV’s Parliamentary Correspondent, Jeffery Mawutor, the blackout lasted for approximately five minutes before it was restored.
What really caused the blackout?
Metro TV gathers the Parliament House and Job 600 were disconnected from the national grid by the Electricity Company of Ghana. But why did the power company embark on such a mission? The answer is simple, and straightforward – It was due to a GHc23 million debt.
This follows unsuccessful attempts to collect the outstanding arrears.
The disconnect is a component of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) task force’s ongoing “Operation Zero Balance” program.
This initiative’s main objective is to collect unpaid bills from a variety of clients; in this instance, Parliament House and Job 600 were singled out because of their enormous debt.
Is dumsor back?
Many Ghanaians have been lamenting about the constant power outages across the country without any prior notice.
They fear the dreaded load-shedding days which ruined their lives and collapsed their businesses have returned and they have to adjust and adapt to the situation.
The troubled Ghanaians are asking for a power rationalizing timetable to allow them to plan their lives around it to avoid the unfortunate incident.
The Electricity Company of Ghana has not officially commented on the situation.
The Minority in Parliament has called on the Electricity Company of Ghana to immediately publish a timetable for the ongoing power cuts to enable people to plan their lives.
Meanwhile, the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC) has attributed the recent intermittent power outages to insufficient fuel supply and plans to collaborate with Independent Power Producers to identify solutions.
