Baah Acheamfour, the Ashanti Regional Deputy Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on Energy Minister John Jinapor to engage the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to improve electricity delivery in the Ashanti Region.
Acheamfour voicing his frustration in an interview with OTEC FM’s Dwabrem monitored by Kumasimail.com, expressed deep frustration over the erratic and prolonged blackouts that have become a daily ordeal for residents.
“We plead with Hon. John Jinapor to speak to ECG. If they are collecting money, they should provide services that match the payments,” he stated emphatically.
Highlighting the lack of transparency from ECG, Acheamfour demanded clear communication about the reasons behind the outages.
“Why does the light go off for three hours before it comes back? Why does it come back after 30 minutes or sometimes just five minutes? Are these intentional acts, or is ECG fixing faults at night without informing the public?” he questioned.
He recounted his personal experience in Effiduase, where power outages reportedly occur up to 12 times a day, describing the situation as “unacceptable.”
Baah Acheamfour stressed that Ghanaians are generally patient when they receive reliable service for their payments, but the current state of ‘dumsor’ amid tariff hikes is causing widespread frustration.
While acknowledging the challenges inherited from previous administrations, including ECG’s debt burden, Acheamfour urged Energy Minister Jinapor to ensure that the strategies being implemented translate into tangible improvements on the ground.
“If Ghanaians are paying 14% more and still experiencing power cuts, then what is the point?” he asked.
Recent weeks have seen several scheduled and unscheduled outages in the Ashanti Region, with ECG attributing the disruptions to technical challenges, maintenance work, and infrastructure faults.
The Energy Minister, John Jinapor, recently addressed these concerns, citing damage to underground cables and a surge in electricity demand as primary causes.
He assured the public that repairs have been made and that a new 145 MVA transformer has been installed to boost supply and reliability in the region. Jinapor also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to enhancing the country’s energy infrastructure and promised improved service delivery.
Source: www.kumasimail.com /Kwadwo Owusu
