Kumasi Panics Over Dumsor

FREQUENT ERRATIC power supply being witnessed in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, in recent weeks, is heightening fears among many residents that the era of load-shedding, otherwise known as ‘Dumsor’ may have returned.

Fearing for the worst that their businesses were going to collapse as it did during the ‘dumsor’ era, most residents who called into radio programmes on Monday morning, said they were not comfortable about how power was being interrupted in the city and called on the authorities to be bold and tell them the true state of electricity supply in Kumasi.

They lamented that power supply is usually cut without notice from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and challenged the authorities to say they were rationing power supply since there was every indication that the gloomy days of ‘Dumsor’ was gradually resurfacing.

ECG Calms Nerves

But in a sharp rebuttal, the ECG has emphatically denied that the ‘Dumsor’ menace has returned as the people in the city are suspecting.

The Ashanti Regional PRO of the company, Mr. Erasmus Kyere Baidoo, admitted that there have been frequent power cuts in the city in recent times, and attributed the situation to pockets of cable faults experienced in some parts of the region.

According to him, ECG had sent men to the affected areas and have since been working day-and-night to help fix the problems.

He lamented that some people had mounted kiosks and other temporary structures on some of their underground cables so fixing problems always became very difficult.

Mr. Baidoo also said some landlords in the city usually prevent ECG engineers from fixing cable faults in front of their houses and appealed to landlords to always co-operate when such situations arise.

Source: Kwadwo Essel