General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia is positive the current power crisis facing the nation will be a thing of the past.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia said he is convinced measures being implemented to arrest the situation will yield expected results in 2015.
“I am very happy that the current government is sparing no effort in ending that [power crisis],” Mr. Asiedu Nketia indicated, when he co-presented the News Review segment with former General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Tuesday, December 23, 2014.
Mr. Afriyie, popularly called ‘Sir John’ had commented on an assurance said to have been given by the new Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, to the effect that the ongoing load management would be relaxed during the yuletide.
He had urged the authorities in the power sector to provide uninterrupted power to consumers on Christmas and Boxing Days – December 25 and 26- just as they did during Ghana’s participation at the group stages of the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil.
“If they could give us light…for those two days, I think that it will help ease the stress that we have gone through during the year,” Sir John entreated.
But Mr. Asiedu Nketia, known also as General Mosquito, said the reason for the current crisis in the power sector was due to the fact that “for so many years we have slackened the pace of generation while economic growth has increased the demand for power to double digits”.
“So whenever you have yourself in that situation, you know that you cannot do any magic in getting power to everybody at all times…“That’s why I’m very positive that we ought not to hang the criticism of government on ‘dumsor dumsor’; if you did that, you will be laughing from the wrong side of your mouth in 2016,” Asiedu Nketia said.
The NDC while in opposition in 2008 promised the electorate it would end the power crisis if wins the elections. Having governed the country for almost six years, the situation has gone from bad to worse.
In Mr. Asiedu Nketia’s assessment, the situation should be a thing of the past within a short time and cautioned the opposition party not to attempt to make it a campaign mantra during the next general elections in 2016.
