I solved 'dumsor' problem in Dec 2016 - Mahama to Akufo-Addo

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, John Mahama, has said that the erstwhile NDC government under his presidency solved the load-shedding challenges in 2016.

He said checks from GRIDCo would prove that the load-shedding exercise, popularly referred to as “dumsor”, no longer existed at the time he left office.

Mr Mahama said this while addressing supporters of the party in the Ellembelle Constituency in the Western Region last Tuesday, in response to claims by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that the NDC could not solve dumsor before leaving power in 2017.

“I expect that when NPP is telling untruths, they'll leave it to the younger and junior ones to do. But when senior people like Nana Akufo-Addo says that dumsor was not solved before they took power, I get surprised.

“I heard him say that if we could not keep the lights on, how can we run a 24-hour economy? When dumsor was solved in 2016.

“Nobody had load shedding in 2016; that is on record. Go and check GRIDCo records,” he added. 

Proverbs 19:9

Mr Mahama called on President Akufo-Addo to reflect on Proverbs 19:9 and stop peddling untruths.

“You know, liars cannot go to heaven. And let me give you a Bible quotation, Proverbs 19:9, which says - Those who bear false witness will not go unpunished and the liars will be destroyed," he said.

Context

On Monday, November 25, 2024, President Akufo-Addo described Mr Mahama’s legacy as characterised by persistent power outages.

He questioned the practicality of the NDC's proposed 24-hour Economy policy under Mahama's leadership.

"If he could not maintain a stable 12-hour power supply when he was in office, how can he promise a 24-hour economy? Stop the untruths," President Akufo-Addo said.

However, according to the NDC, the root cause of dumsor was because the New Patriotic Party, in its first four years in office, never added a single megawatt of power to the grid, except the emergency 4MW that was once described by energy expert, Dr Charles Wireko-Brobbey, as toy plants, which were later consigned to the mines.