By Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA
Accra, April 28, GNA — The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority Caucus has accused the Mahama administration of alleged “incompetence and deception” over Ghana’s worsening power crisis.
The Caucus also insisted that last week’s incident at the Akosombo Power Control Centre was being used to mask 14 months of policy failure.
At a press conference in Parliament House on Tuesday, Mr Collins Adomako-Mensah, a Deputy Ranking of the Energy Committee of Parliament, rejected the Energy Ministry’s suspension of GRIDCo Chief Executive Officer, Mark Awuah Baah and reshuffling of Electricity Company Ghana’s (ECG) Ashanti Regional leadership as “political theatre,” arguing that the moves “will not generate electricity.”
Mr Adomako-Mensah, also the NPP Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre North, alleged that “dumsor” had been persisted since January 2025, long before the April 23 fire at Akosombo.
He cited ECG’s own apology letters and “relentless emergency maintenance schedules” throughout April as proof that the crisis predated the incident.
He said, “Ghanaians were living in darkness not for hours but for days. Industries were haemorrhaging losses. Cold stores were warming and Hospitals were straining on generators.”
“That is the crisis this government owns, fully, entirely, and without excuse,” he added.
The Deputy Ranking on the Energy Committee of Parliament pointed to President Mahama’s April 19 alleged remarks that the outages were “not dumsor” but “necessary steps” for stability, saying Ghanaians, “did not believe him then” and “do not believe him now.”
According to the MP,
Central to the NPP’s argument was the Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP), negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration.
He described it as a “working plan with specific timelines” to fix financial and operational gaps in the power sector.
“What did the Mahama government do with this inheritance? It delayed. It rebadged the crisis as a maintenance programme. It renamed dumsor as upgrades,” he said.
Mr Adomako-Mensah noted Ghana had 5,200MW of installed capacity against 4,300MW peak demand, concluding the crisis was “financial, managerial, and infrastructural” — not generation.
He, however, warned that sector shortfalls could hit $9 billion by 2026, with ECG distribution losses exceeding 25 per cent of power generated.
The Minority also demanded an immediate, independently verified audit of the GH¢1 per litre “Dumsor Levy” imposed on fuel.
He said no report had been laid before Parliament; no public accounting was made, and no audit was published.
“How much has been collected? Into which accounts? What projects have been funded? What is the balance?” he asked. He announced that Mr Habib Iddrisu, the First Deputy Minority Whip, would file an RTI request on the levy.
He disputed the Finance Ministry’s alleged claim that Independent Power Producers (IPP) debts had been cleared, alleging government still owed IPP over $500 million and fuel suppliers over $200 million.
The Caucus listed six immediate actions that the government stop “semantic deception” — end descriptions of the crisis as “planned maintenance.;” implement ESRP with a public, independently verified timeline; clear IPP arrears with a binding, published payment schedule.
The others were commission a national infrastructure safety audit of transmission and distribution assets; Energy Minister to brief Parliament on generation capacity, IPP debt, ESRP status, and a time-bound plan to end dumsor and ensure due process for suspended officials, warning against “sacrificing public servants on the altar of political optics.”
Referencing President Mahama’s alleged 2015 admission to then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he had been nicknamed “Mr. Dumsor,” Mr Adomako-Mensah said, “He did not deny the crisis then. He cannot deny it now. The name has returned with its owner.”
He cited ISSER’s data showing $618 million in losses from dumsor in 2014 alone, arguing the human cost was being repeated: interrupted surgeries, failed cold chains, and students unable to study.
“Ghana cannot afford a government that manages crisis through spectacle. “The lights were already going out before Akosombo. They were going out because this government let the sector decay,” he said.
The Caucus vowed full parliamentary scrutiny through every constitutional avenue and pledged to remain the voice of the Ghanaian people until the administration is held fully to account.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei