President John Dramani Mahama has moved to calm growing public concern over recent power outages, rejecting suggestions that Ghana is slipping back into the era of ‘dumsor.’
Speaking during a working visit to the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) as part of his ‘Resetting Ghana’ tour, the President explained that the intermittent outages are part of a deliberate nationwide infrastructure upgrade.
“I’ll appeal to our people. The outages you are facing are not ‘dumsor.’ It is to enable you to get better quality and stable power,” he assured.
Also read: Common mistakes that are secretly damaging your prostate health
According to President Mahama, the current disruptions are linked to the replacement of ageing and overstretched electricity infrastructure, particularly transformers that have become inadequate due to rapid population growth and urban expansion.
He revealed that the government has procured approximately 2,500 transformers under the first phase of a broader intervention to strengthen the country’s power distribution system.
The exercise, he noted, is being implemented in phases and is expected to improve power stability once completed significantly. He, however, acknowledged the inconvenience caused and urged power distributors to improve communication with affected communities ahead of scheduled outages.
The President also highlighted the increasing involvement of local manufacturers in transformer production, describing it as a positive step for economic growth.
“One of the things I’m happy about is that a lot of these transformers are made in Ghana. It helps multiply the benefits for our country,” he said.
President Mahama further directed both the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and NEDCo to enhance their responsiveness to customer complaints and fault reporting.
“NEDCo, ECG, we must now improve our customer response time,” he stressed.
The Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, confirmed that the transformer deployment is already ongoing in key areas, including Tamale, Accra, and Tema, with Kumasi and other regions next in line.
He explained that the intervention is aimed at reducing pressure on overloaded systems, minimising equipment-related outages, and improving overall grid reliability.
The first phase of the rollout is expected to last about three months, after which longer-term upgrades will follow.
The government maintains that the ongoing works form part of a comprehensive strategy to modernise Ghana’s electricity distribution network and prevent a recurrence of past nationwide power crises.