Akufo-Addo vows to keep ‘dark days’ of dumso behind

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated his commitment to ensure regular supply of power to Ghanaian homes and industries.

He admits that the days of irregular supply of power brought a lot of “discomfort” and “inconvenience” to Ghanaians and “we must continue to keep them behind us”.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking on Wednesday, October 20 when he inaugurated the $64.72 million Pokuase Bulk Supply Project in Accra.

The Pokuase Bulk Supply Point (PBSP), the largest in Ghana, is aimed at improving power supply quality and reliability to over 350,000 electricity consumers in and around Pokuase, Nsawam, Achimota, Anyaa, Kwabenya, Ashongman and Aburi.

Addressing the gathering during the commissioning, President Akufo-Addo said the project “not only gives the assurance of stable power supply, but also reminds us of how far we have come from the days of widespread power outages and the phenomenon of dumso which brought us so much discomfort and inconvenience and brought businesses to their knees”.

“Those were truly dark days, literally speaking, and we must continue to keep them behind us.”

The President noted that any country that aspires to industrialise must ensure that its citizens have access to “stable, efficient and affordable power supply”.

“Electricity is no longer a luxury but rather in this day and age a basic necessity and we must commit ourselves to working hard to ensure that we achieve universal coverage in this country as soon as possible to spur economic groth.”

The project, the most technologically advanced sub-station in Ghana, was funded under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) by the US government.

It began in February, 2019.

US Ambassador Stephanie Sullivan said the completion of the project marks another milestone in US relations with Ghana.

“The proof is all around us in the infrastructure you are seeing and the improved supply of electricity we are all now enjoying and also around me and all of those who together made it happen.”

The PBSP under the Ghana Power Compact is 580mva.