Government, give us opportunity to trust you again!
Power outages have become more of a normal ritual and a fact of life across most African countries, with almost daily blackouts affecting rich and poor countries alike.
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South Africa's power utility top officials have been suspended over power shortages, and early this year more than half of Kenya suffered a power outage after a major transmission line failed.
Ghana too is in the midst of the longest power crisis that is almost grinding most of the country’s industrial base to a halt.
Business groups, including the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) and the Chamber of Mines, have complained about the effects of the outages on their businesses and some have even begun laying off workers in a bid to cut down on cost.
The latest to join the campaign to end the nearly three years of power outages are some Ghanaian celebrities who have taken over the airwaves and the social media networks, complaining about the impact of ‘dumsor’ on their trade and blaming the government for the never-ending crisis.
Under the hashtag # ‘dumsormuststop’, the campaign is trending very well on social media platforms, with many celebrities joining the movement.
The worry is that the power crisis is threatening the jobs and livelihoods of the celebrities and thousands of other Ghanaians, which must be dealt with before it turns into a major social and political crisis.
The Daily Graphic thinks the celebrities are only exercising one of their fundamental rights of free expression which is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Indeed, all over the world, protestations such as what is planned reflect all shades of the political and social spectra and they are an expression of how strongly the public feels about pertinent issues that political leaders often prefer to avoid.
Some say the only language government officials understand is demonstration. But the Daily Graphic is of the view that a government that pays attention to peaceful demonstrations is only showing political maturity.
The highest point of the President's annual State of the Nation Address to the Legislature was his promise to not just manage the energy crisis but also ‘fix it’.
“I do not intend to manage the situation, I intend to fix it. I, John Dramani Mahama, will fix this energy challenge," he had promised on the floor of Parliament.
For the Daily Graphic, getting it right and meeting timelines do not only inspire and build credibility but also give positive signals about information from the government.
We dare say that the government cannot afford to miss timelines in sensitive issues that threaten the livelihoods of its citizens.
For once, the government should give us another opportunity to trust it again with the new September timeline to end the power crisis and give Ghanaians some comfort.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, pleads with the masses to give the government yet another chance to trust it.