In recent days, there has been a conundrum about the suspicious return of a John-Mahama-inspired condition of darkness that once plagued us due to NDC’s unfathomable incompetence and lack of a sensible approach to issues, especially when same under their tenure in government was attributed to the overcharging of mobile phones and all the absurd cacophony that never made any sense at all!
However, and luckily, too, Ghanaians had enough of their bullshit and gave them the boot in December of 2016. Since then, the many Private Power Producer contracts that were signed under John Mahama, many of which were damningly irrevocable, were terminated by His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo being the astute lawyer that he is. John Mahama’s Dumsor suddenly disappeared, and Ghanaians breathed a sigh of relief for the first time after eight unforgiving years under the NDC. The systems that had not seen any changes or updates were finally beginning their journey back to life. Nevertheless, it was a herculean task that had to be painstakingly tackled. As a result, under the NPP administration, we have enjoyed an appreciable measure of stability, hitherto, unthought of.
Now, here is where the story begins! It is an election year that we are in, and the NDC elements are at what they are known to do best – SABOTAGE! Recently, the Police Service issued a communique that highlighted the activities of saboteurs who were cutting down electricity poles and causing havoc to installations. We see this trend almost every election period when they are in opposition, thinking that their shenanigans would not be discovered by discerning Ghanaians. Their counterparts in the Electricity Company of Ghana are in on the plot, too, make no mistake about that! Some site engineers and maintenance technicians have their hands dipped to the shoulder in this most heinous and unpatriotic plot. How, then, can a fault be rectified, and light restored only for the same fault to recur repetitively? Just like the wicked goons who commit arson in markets every now and then, these saboteurs are paid political harlots. It cannot be said that the technicians are incompetent because they are rather well trained! It cannot be said that the technicians do not have spare parts because the warehouses of ECG are packed! It cannot be said that the technicians do not have tools because they have state-of-the-art gear!
Fortunately for us, the current MD, Mr Samuel Mahama Dubeck has got what it takes to hunt down the wicked criminals who are trying to dim the achievements of H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo’s government. Someone of his calibre, who was able to mobilise teams all over the country to arrest electricity thieves and recoup almost all outstanding debts owed to ECG cannot be bereft of ways and means to come after the saboteurs.
That said, it is important to note that the erratic power supply experienced in certain parts of the country is, also, due to massive infrastructure upgrades and systems maintenance like retiring outdated transformers and replacing them with new ones, while cables are, also, being serviced, and, where necessary, changed!
It is only a matter of a short period of time for the ongoing works to be completed and, of course, the saboteurs arrested. Really, I mean how unpatriotic can one be that they would, intentionally, destroy poles and cut down power lines? For what it is worth, never allow the NDC back to Power again, and, more so, not when the flask-toting John Mahama is seeking yet another term to plunge Ghana back into dumsor darkness, after telling us, “y’a wi nnam aka dompe”, to wit, “we have chewed all the meat, except the bones”! By the way, I wish to mention that the Danyame faults office of ECG in the Ashanti Region is part of the problem. Could it be that the technicians have bought into the plot to “DUM” the fortunes of the NPP in Ashanti? Just asking!
By Fadi Dabbousi