Some residents of Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, have disagreed with President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s assertion that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has solved the intermittent power supply challenge that confronted the state.
According to the residents, they are still experiencing the menace which is known in the local parlance as ‘dumsor‘.
The President, during the State of the Nation address (SONA) Tuesday, February 27, 2024, emphasised that his government, has, for the past seven years, solved the intermittent power supply the country was facing.
“Mr. Speaker, between 2012 and early 2017, there was nothing more demoralizing than the phenomenon we called DUMSOR. It was symptomatic of a dysfunctional system, and it caused widespread depression among businesses and households. After that experience, my government was determined that DUMSOR would not be inflicted upon Ghana and Ghanaians under an NPP government, and I am glad to be able to say, SO FAR, SO GOOD, we have managed to keep the lights on these last seven (7) years, even amid a financial crisis,”President Akufo-Addo said in his address.
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But speaking with Akoma FM’s Enock Baffoe after the SONA, some residents said the President’s claim was untrue since they experienced dumsor even the night before the his address.
“If Nana says that then he hasn’t been fair with us because just the day before yesterday, the dumsor has started. Yesterday I slept without light in my house so it is never true that the NPP government was able to manage the power stability for seven years now,” a resident disclosed.
Another said “for that I won’t even let you end because I don’t see the power to be stable. It is not true. That’s why I told you earlier, I am a pastor and I won’t come and lie here, the power is not stable, it has been on and off.”
Meanwhile, those residing in the Suame constituency have also complained about the abandonment of the interchange since the sod-cutting in 2022.
They said they expected the President to mention it but refused to do so.
The construction of the four-tier interchange at Suame, according to President Akufo-Addo, was part of the government’s effort to improving urban mobility in the city and the Ashanti region at large.
Residents have been anticipating commencement and completion of the interchange with the delay in the project raising fears about the chances of the NPP winning more votes in the Ashanti region.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a.k.a. Chairman Wontumi, had, at a press conference in 2023, implored the President to release funds for work to commence to help the party break the eight-year mantle.
But since his press conference, the project has still not seen the light of day, building some mistrust in the people over the NPP’s neglection of the region in terms of development.
Some of the residents who spoke with OnuaOnline indicated that “we are disappointed in the NPP government for not paying attention to the Ashanti region. We voted massively for him to become President but look around, no development. You came here to cut the sod for the Suame interchange project, for almost seven years we haven’t seen the progress of the interchange.”
Akufo-Addo cuts sod for commencement of 4-tier Suame interchange
