Parts of the capital experienced power outages on Tuesday evening, leading to frustration and anger among some Ghanaians.
Callers into Joy FM’s Super Morning Show expressed their displeasure, citing the lack of prior communication and explanation for the widespread outage.
“We’ve suffered a lot. I could not iron my kid’s uniform. I have to wake up around 5.00 am and go to a friend’s place to iron before I take them to school.
“Sometimes we have to get serious in this country…it is annoying,” a caller lamented.
Another caller also said: “It was off 6 pm on Tuesday and it came this morning – Wednesday at 6.30 am. It is red just say it is red and Ghanaians will empathise with you but no you come out and lie.”
The Minority in Parliament has attributed the situation to a 500-megawatt shortfall caused by non-payment for gas supplied through the West African Pipeline Company (WAPCo).
John Jinapor, Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee, suggested that a load-shedding exercise could be imminent.
In an interview on Joy FM’s Midday News, he emphasized that power outages are avoidable situations if financial obligations are met.
“The Ministry of Finance has been prompted and they are aware. If they had paid the money, this unfortunate situation would have been curtailed,” he added on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.
He claimed that, the West African Gas Pipeline had been shut down due to the government’s failure to pay its debt obligation, resulting in gas being stranded in the eastern enclave of Tema.
“I can confirm to you that indeed the WAPCo gas pipeline has been shut. It has been shut because of nonpayment of gas supply to the pipeline. This has therefore resulted in about 116 standard cubic feet of gas stranded in the eastern enclave which is Tema, not able to get gas,” he said.
According to him, the situation has also led to the shutdown of two other gas pipelines and the limitation of gas supply to the Asogli power plant.
ALSO READ: