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Those craving for ‘Dumsor’ are wishful thinkers
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Ghana as a country between 2014 and 2016 went through a turbulent period because of an erratic power supply that affected every facet of life.
So terrible was the situation that the country gained such notoriety in the international community that the Twi word ‘Dumsor’ found its way into Wikipedia with some countries poking fun at Ghana.
Investors shied away from the country and businesses collapsed with some expatriate companies relocating to other African countries because of the high cost of doing business in Ghana as there was no power to use.
The government at that time though used various means in trying to save the situation and made some gains, it did not succeed entirely.
‘Dumsor,’ which means ‘put off, put on,’ became a major political football for Ghana’s two leading political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as to who did what, when and how to solve the power crisis.
Today, the government, through the Ministry of Energy, has rolled out measures offering Ghanaians the best of power supply that has not been witnessed for some years.
Surprisingly, some political players are craving for the return of Ghana to the dreaded ‘Dumsor’ all in the name of scoring political points, although the Ministry of Energy has offered lots of hope to Ghanaians to the effect that the days of erratic power supply are over.
The current handlers of the energy sector are on top of their game to ensure that Ghana enjoys stable power supply at all times.
Power generation has been worked on heavily with numerous Power Purchasing Agreements (PPAs), excess capacity and associated payments, government guarantees and take or pay.
There is a new policy direction on PPAs, prudent addition of generation capacity and an increasing share of renewable energy. The way forward for contracting PPAs has been cleared for the best, as there is now take-and-pay arrangements, no longer government guarantees and tax exemptions for PPAs.
What is fascinating about the current move to keep the lights on is the cap on energy tariff which will be denominated in Ghana Pesewas, as well as a provision of Bank Liquidity support for PPAs.
What is amazing is the fact that Ghana’s current installed power capacity has improved with additions such that on March 18, 2022, the peak system was 3, 469 Megawatts and available capacity for that same day was 3, 861 Megawatts.
Upgrading of power lines to reduce losses and increase transmission capacity has been enhanced with the Kumasi-Kintampo section completed and energised to improve the voltages in the Ashanti and Northern regions and that completes the entire 330KV Kumasi-Bolgatanga Transmission line which supports power to Burkina Faso through the existing 225KV interconnection line.
Presently, there is more Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) leading to improved power supply. The construction of the 580 MVA Pokuase BSP, (which is the biggest substation,) and its commissioning has brought remarkable improvement in the reliability of power supply to Pokuase and its environs.
In addition to that, there is another 435MVA BSP at Kasoa, which is the second largest with a productive capacity of 435MVA and has helped in significant improvement in the reliability of power supply to Kasoa and nearby communities.
With power distribution, loss reduction strategies have been adopted notable among them is the Meter Management System (MMS) under which there is harmonisation of several metering systems, remote and early detection of faults and managing all metering systems on common platform and thereby reducing workload and stress of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) workers.
By Moses Yaw Krubi
There is also the Geographic Information System (GIS) which helps the ECG to attain an accurate asset inventory with electric poles, transformers, cable lines, substations and other electric utility assets.
With the GIS, ECG is able to analyse its network usage, identify problems and risks, like power outages, have oversight about energy consumption, find potential threats to the distribution network and, manage utility asset repairs.
To further reduce power losses, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) under which all ECG business processes to facilitate seamless workflow for efficient operations has been rolled out, in addition to ECG Boundary Metering and Distribution Transformer Metering to enhance energy accounting and distribution system loss measurement. Nine operational regions: Accra East, West, Tema, Central, Western, Eastern, Volta, sub-transmissions and Ashanti SBU have been completed under ERP.
Voltage Current and Time (VIT) Smart Technology for optimising, designing and installation of VIT feeder automation scheme on 33KV and 11 KV distribution feeders to reduce outage time and customer experience is also in place to ensure proper power distribution.
As part of loss reduction strategies, the ECG Revenue Task Force was re-launched in September 2021 to identify power theft and recover debt across consumers.
To ensure payment to all players in the value chain to stay financially viable, there is the implementation of the cash waterfall mechanism and natural clearinghouse game plan running.
There is power commitment on the part of those handling the country’s power sector and that has manifested through the improved grid stability that Ghana is experiencing.
Grid stability was made possible through the relocation of 250MW Ameri Plant from Takoradi to Kumasi and completion of Gas Pipeline construction to Anwomaso in Kumasi, relocation of 80MW Volta River Authority (VRA) Siemens Thermal Power plant to Kumasi, proposal for combined cycle plant from AKSA (250MV) received and reviewed in addition to KARPOWER (235MV) proposal for Kumasi.
Tariffs rationalisation is being pursued seriously as the Energy ministry is collaborating with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to rationalise electricity tariffs to make the methodology transparent and the tariff structure non-punitive.
Lots of renewable projects have been completed and for solar power generation alone, Meinergy Solar-20MW was completed in 2017, VRA Solar Lawra/Kaleo-19MW was completed in 2021 and Bui Solar-51MW and others were also completed in 2021.
For off-grid solar generation, there have been generation of some 24.3MW between 2017 and 2021 and 26 micro-grids of 58MW for hospitals in 2017, while the Jubilee House Phase 1 of 550KW was completed.
Ongoing renewable projects include the scaling-up Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) under which some 80MW would be generated. Thirty eight mini grids, 35, 500 Solar Home Systems (SHS) for off grid communities and 12,000 Net Metering PV for SMEs/Public Buildings/SHS projects are progressing with speed.
Bui Solar to generate 150 MW; complete Jubilee House Solar Phase II to a total of 912 KW and PPA negotiations between ECG and Lekela to generate 225MW and EleQtra to generate 50MW wind projects are all towards ensuring stable power supply.
With all that the handlers of the country’s energy sector and ,for that matter, the government are doing, there is no way that erratic power supply will come back to disorganise Ghana, and those who are craving for ‘Dumsor’ are virtually doing nothing apart from wishful thinking and they will be disappointed big time.
By Moses Yaw Krubi
There is a culture that permeates all aspects of leadership in the advanced countries which I believe has contributed to the success in all aspects of their national lives. Citizens strive to excel so that they will not find themselves in a situation where they would have failed, to necessitate a decision to resign.
Countries where failure is frowned upon, it pushes the citizens to strive for success. In our part of the world, failure and mediocrity has become an accepted norm and therefore, there is no shame in failing in a particular position of leadership.
A head of an organisation mismanages the place and he does not see the need for him to resign. The appointing authority does not also see the need to sack him and so the merry go round continues.
It becomes friends and family as usual and if care is not taken, the rest of the world will leave us far, far behind.
The practice of resignation in parts of the world for failure in some parts of the world has to be institutionalised in our country too. It encourages the principle of accountability which is good for any organisation, sector of an economy or a country.
It promotes good governance, a necessary ingredient in the growth of the economy of any country.
When this practice becomes a culture, every individual, privileged to hold a position of trust, gives his or her full attention to the job assigned him or her, to ensure that objectives are achieved.
This trickles down to every individual down the chain of command and there are no rooms for errors.
That is how efficient systems are built over time and this is the difference between advanced nations and third world countries.
Where systems are designed such that people take responsibility for things that go wrong under their supervision or ultimate responsibility, there is evidence of development.
There are a few people that I admire in Ghana as far as this culture of resignation based on principled stance. One of them is the late Mrs Emma Mitchell. She was a cabinet member but chose to resign after the confrontation between late President Jerry Rawlings and late Vice President Kow Akaah.
She was not prepared to be part of a cabinet which was lying to the general public that Rawlings did not assault Akaah.
She was of the conviction that telling the truth is more honourable than telling lies and that if she was bound by confidentiality oaths to tell a lie, then she would resign and she did exactly that.
That is how we build a culture of truth and accountability. We have people in positions who have not lived up to expectation but are still holding on to their positions not prepared to let go of it.
This is a clear case of display of selfishness, trying to be a Boss instead of a Servant to serve the people, which leadership is all about.
The ineffectiveness of some leaders, often result in waste of resources which could have been channeled to other sectors of the economy which could have been more productive. A culture of voluntary resignation must be advocated for by all stakeholders, especially the CSOs, traditional leaders and the clergy.
This is the only way the needed growth in every sector of our national life would manifest.
Presidents, Prime Ministers, heads of reputable organisations have voluntarily resigned by taking ultimate responsibility and it is about time, we started seeing it manifest in our country.
The people in charge of our sports especially our soccer, can initiate this long desired culture and resign in view of the embarrassment witnessed from the defeat of the Black Stars by Gambia. God bless.
BY LAUD KISS-MENSAH
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THE QUR’AN FORBIDS RELIGIOUS PROVOCATION
There is a remarkable verse in the Qur’an which every Muslim preacher should memorise.
Allah says:
“And do not insult those they invoke besides Allah, lest they insult Allah in hostility without knowledge.” (Qur’an 6:108).
Think about this carefully.
Allah knows that the unbelievers worship false gods.
Yet Allah tells Muslims: Do not insult their objects of worship.
Why?
Because your speech may provoke an even greater offence.
This establishes a profound principle:
A Muslim must not fight religious provocation with religious provocation.
If someone insults what we hold sacred, we do not respond by insulting what they hold sacred.
If someone attacks Islam, we defend Islam with knowledge.
If someone misrepresents Muhammad (pbuh), we explain who is Muhammad to him.
If someone lies about Islam, we answer with truth and knowledge.
We do not allow another person’s bad behaviour to dictate our own morality.
LOOK AT MUHAMMAD (PBUH) — HE WAS INSULTED BEFORE WE WERE
Servant of Allah,
Sometimes we speak as though the Prophet (pbuh) lived in a world where everyone respected him.
No.
He was mocked and insulted. Quran 37:36, Quran 15:6
He was called a liar, magician, and a mad man. Quran 51:52, Quran 17:47
He was ridiculed. Quran 6:10
His followers were tortured, and some were killed. Quran 85:8-10
He himself was persecuted, leading to his migration to Madina.
Yet he remained the Messenger of Allah.
Allah said:
“Indeed, we know that your heart is distressed by what they say.” (Qur’an 15:97)
Allah acknowledged the Prophet’s pain.
Islam does not say that insults do not hurt. They hurt.
But the question is: What do you do with the pain?
THE DAY OF TA’IF: WHEN THE PROPHET (PBUH) COULD HAVE CHOSEN
REVENGE
One of the most powerful examples is the journey of the Prophet (pbuh) to Ta’if.
He went seeking support for his message.
Instead, the people rejected him and incited their children and others against him.
He was chased.
He was insulted.
He was struck with stones until his feet bled.
He was physically and emotionally exhausted.
Then the Angel of the Mountains came to him.
The two angels offered to crush the people of Ta’if between the mountains.
The Prophet (pbuh) could have said: “Do it.”
But he did not.
Instead, he hoped that Allah would bring from their descendants people who would worship Him.
This account is recorded in the authentic hadith literature, including Sahih Muslim (Muslim, 1795).
What a lesson!
The Prophet (pbuh) had suffered injustice.
But he did not turn his pain into indiscriminate revenge.
He saw beyond the offender.
He saw the possibility of tomorrow.
And this is one of the greatest characteristics of prophetic leadership:
The Prophet (pbuh) did not merely ask, “What punishment does this person deserve?”
He also asked, in effect: “What can this person become?”
THE PROPHET IN MADINAH: LEADER OF A DIVERSE SOCIETY
When Muhammad (pbuh) migrated to Madinah, he did not enter an empty city.
Madinah contained different communities, including Muslims and Jews, and there were also Christians who interacted with the Muslim community.
The Prophet became the political and communal leader of Madinah.
The Sahifah (A Covenant) of Madinah, preserved in the early sīrah (Prophet’s biography) tradition, established arrangements concerning mutual obligations, security, justice and relations among the communities of the city.
This is important:
The Prophet did not build Madinah by teaching Muslims to hate everyone who was not Muslim.
He built a society governed by covenant, responsibility and justice.
Allah says:
“Allah does not forbid you from being kind and just to those who have neither fought you because of your religion nor driven you from your homes. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.” (Qur’an 60:8)
This is not weakness.
This is Islam.
THE PROPHET DEALT WITH JEWS IN MADINAH
‘A’ishah (Wife of the Prophet) narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) bought food from a Jewish man on credit and gave him his iron armour as collateral.
“The Prophet purchased food from a Jew on credit and mortgaged his iron armour to him.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 2068)
Think about it.
This was Muhammad.
The Messenger of Allah.
Yet he conducted lawful commercial dealings with a Jewish citizen.
He did not say: “He is not a Muslim, therefore I cannot deal with him.”
No.
Islam gave him a relationship governed by justice and trust.
Jabir رضيهللاعنه narrated:
“A funeral procession passed before us and the Prophet (pbuh) stood up, and we stood with him. We said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, it is the funeral of a Jew.’ He said: ‘When you see a funeral procession, stand.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1311)
Another narration records his response: “Is it not a soul?” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1312–1313)
What kind of heart did Muhammad (pbuh) possess?
A heart that recognised human dignity even in death.
THE PROPHET AND THE CHRISTIANS OF NAJRAN
The Prophet also received the Christian delegation of Najran.
They disagreed with him theologically.
Yet when they requested a trustworthy person, he did not choose someone because of hatred.
He selected Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah.
The Prophet said:
“I shall send with you a man who is truly trustworthy.”
He then appointed Abu ‘Ubaydah.
This is authentically reported in Sahih al-Bukhari 4380–4381.
Notice something profound:
The Prophet could disagree with people without becoming dishonest toward them.
That is the standard we need today.
The author is the chief Imam of Katamanso Municipal and Certified Counsellor and Governance Expert.
