Herbert Mensah

As my third day without electricity reaches an end i did my calculations on cost, productivity, health, inconvenience and wondered and wondered. There are no words to describe this situation and in speaking to others it is apparent that everyone suffers by degree and everyone is slowly reaching a point where cynicism alone cannot and does not work.

It is political but it is not confined to the ruling party. Dumsor’s ascendency in our lives took off at the turn of the century. The ruling party are simply guilty of the arrogance of not being able to show the kind of leadership which properly explains our past/present and guides us out of our pain with workable timelines. If in coming into office they had given a historical explanation to the situation and provided timeous solutions few would have complained. Indeed if scheduled outages were announced and adhered to there would be better understanding….. but they didn’t and that is unacceptable!

If one never had electricity or one lived in rural areas where it was almost a luxury then a yoyo system of management where you have it one day and don’t the next would not be a problem.

When people suffer i feel for them and when a nation suffers i both feel and worry. I am probably most saddened when people feel that querying and raising objections are political when in reality many are simply upset at the present irrespective of who is in control. The private citizenry weep and “big business” leaks profits while overheads soar … contemplating how much of their increased costs they can pass onto the consumer whose disposable income has taken a severe beating!

Sometimes i actually wonder if anyone is in control because the roadmap to solving a problem which has been with us for more than a decade appears to be hopelessly over optimistic at best and without thought art worst.

The cost to business of continuous, unplanned power outages makes the reality of Ghana as a place to do business a fallacy. This week i have experienced a 70% increase in dumsor without any indication of when irregular outages are likely to occur or when sanity will be reintroduced into our lives!

As for calling 666 (ECG hotline?) it is a sick joke!