Minority blames dumsor on $700m energy debt

The Minority in Parliament has blamed Ghana’s worsening power outages, popularly known as “dumsor,” on a deepening financial crisis in the energy sector, citing over $700 million in unpaid debts to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and fuel suppliers, while rejecting claims that the situation was triggered by the recent fire at the Akosombo substation.

At a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, April 28, the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee, Collins Adomako-Mensah, said the persistent instability in electricity supply is rooted more in financial mismanagement than technical challenges.

“We also know that the problems of the sector are not only technical; they are financial,” he stated, setting the tone for what the Minority described as a structural crisis undermining power generation and distribution.

According to Mr Adomako-Mensah, data available to the Minority indicates that government currently owes more than $500 million to IPPs and an additional $200 million to companies that supply fuel for thermal power generation.

He warned that such levels of indebtedness threaten the sustainability of electricity production, as power producers may struggle to maintain operations without timely payments.

The Minority argued that these figures contradict earlier assurances by the Minister for Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, who had indicated that arrears owed to IPPs had been cleared.

They further questioned claims of improved financial performance within the Electricity Company of Ghana and the broader energy sector.

In response, the group is demanding full disclosure on the state of the sector’s finances, particularly regarding the Energy Sector Levy, widely referred to as the “Dumsor levy.”

The Minority is calling for a comprehensive and independently verified report detailing how much has been collected, how funds have been disbursed, and the outcomes of those expenditures.

“We are calling on the Minister for Energy and the Minister for Finance to, within the shortest possible time, lay before Parliament and publish a full, detailed and independently verified report on the one Ghana cedi Dumsor levy,” Mr Adomako-Mensah said.

Beyond the financial concerns, the Minority strongly rejected attempts to link the current power crisis to the April 23 fire outbreak at the Ghana Grid Company substation at Akosombo. According to them, the outages predate the incident by several months and cannot be attributed to a single technical fault.

“Ghana’s power crisis, the dumsor that millions of Ghanaians have been enduring since January 2025, was not caused by any accident at Akosombo. It was caused by this government,” Mr Adomako-Mensah declared.

He described the Akosombo incident as “the latest and most dramatic symptom” of a sector that has been deteriorating over time, cautioning against what he termed attempts to use the fire as a convenient explanation for longstanding systemic failures.

“The Mahama government must not be permitted to use this incident as a convenient alibi for a crisis that predates it by more than a year,” he added.

The Minority also presented a timeline of disruptions to support its claims, noting that Ghanaians across the country had been enduring persistent, unannounced outages long before the Akosombo incident.

“Long before the event of 23rd April 2026, Ghanaians across every region of this country had been enduring persistent, unannounced, and devastating power outages,” he said.

He further pointed to multiple emergency and maintenance notices issued by the Electricity Company of Ghana in April, alongside public apologies from its leadership over unstable supply and damage to electrical appliances, as evidence of a pre-existing crisis.

The impact, according to the Minority, has been severe and far-reaching, affecting households, businesses, and essential services.

“Communities were living in darkness, not for hours, but for days. Industries were hemorrhaging losses. Cold stores were warm. Hospitals were straining on generators,” Mr Adomako-Mensah said, painting a grim picture of the situation on the ground.

He maintained that these conditions existed well before the Akosombo fire and should not be overlooked in assessing the broader challenges facing the energy sector.

The Minority has therefore mounted pressure on the administration of John Dramani Mahama to take immediate and decisive action to stabilise the sector. They are calling for measures to restore financial discipline, ensure transparency in the management of energy sector funds, and implement long-term reforms to guarantee reliable electricity supply.

The group also criticised what it described as the government’s handling of the crisis, arguing that attributing the outages primarily to the Akosombo incident risks diverting attention from deeper structural issues.

While acknowledging that the fire may have temporarily worsened the situation, Mr Adomako-Mensah insisted that it does not explain the prolonged and recurring outages experienced in many parts of the country since early 2025.

Across Ghana, frustration continues to mount as households and businesses grapple with erratic and unannounced power cuts. Calls are intensifying for the publication of a clear load-shedding timetable, alongside broader reforms to restore stability and confidence in the country’s power sector.