Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante, a Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana has bemoaned the government’s insistence on the non-existence of ‘dumsor’ even when every Ghanaian is experiencing it.
He says the intermittent power outages has become a household problem just as it was in 2016, something the government must admit and device means to curb it.
The lecturer says the government should exhibit leadership and address the matter rather than trying to deceive Ghanaians that it does not exist.
“We feel it. We experience it. Let no one deceive himself or herself that the fact that you have not said it bluntly out loud means dumsor does not exist. It does and nobody can deceive anybody. Governance must be handled with truthfulness.
“Proceed with integrity, there is a problem. Just be forthright with it. Come out and say this problem exists, but as leaders, we will try and fix it.”
He cautioned that just as it affected the then National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 elections, same will apply to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 2024 polls.
Dr. Asah-Asante says issues of energy is one of the key indices Ghanaians consider in determining which political party to vote for, the reason the previous incident affected the Mahama-led administration.
According to him, the challenge which was used as a campaign tool by the NPP whilst in opposition will be used against them now that the energy crisis has become severe in the country.
“The elections that took Mahama home were fought on the basis of dumsor. This party [NPP] took advantage of that and drummed into the ears of Ghanaians and it formed part of the calculations or contributions that Ghanaians made in deciding who to vote for.
“Remember the dumsor economy which Dr. Bawumia made noise about which was legitimate at the time and the same legitimacy can be brought to bear on the current dumsor which the government is pretending doesn’t exist,” he stated.
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