ACCRA, April 28, 2026 — The Minority in Parliament has accused the NDC government of causing the current power crisis, insisting that “Ghanaians are not fools” and that ongoing outages are not due to routine maintenance but the administration’s failure to implement the Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP) it inherited.
In a strongly worded statement on the worsening power situation, the Deputy Minority spokesperson on the Energy Committee, Hon. Collins Adomako-Mensah said the government was “managing crisis through spectacle” instead of solving what he called a deepening energy emergency.
“The Lights Are Out Because Government Failed”
“The lights are out because this government failed to implement the recovery plan it inherited, not because of engineering schedules,” the Minority said, rejecting government explanations linking outages to transformer upgrades and planned maintenance.
The statement argued that Dumsor predates the incident at Akosombo on 23rd April 2026. “The lights were already going out across Ghana before anything happened at Akosombo. They were going out because this government let the sector decay,” it said.
Five-Point Demand
The Minority issued five demands:
1. Implement the ESRP without further delay: The Energy Sector Recovery Programme must be “fully and faithfully implemented” with a public timeline verified by independent parties. “Every further week of delay deepens the financial deterioration that is producing the operational failures Ghanaians are experiencing,” the statement said.
2. Clear outstanding IPP obligations immediately: Noting that Independent Power Producers “cannot sustain capacity under conditions of chronic payment default,” the Minority called on government to “publish the full quantum of outstanding IPP obligations and provide a binding, publicly available payment schedule with credible external verification.”
3. Commission a national infrastructure safety audit: “Ghanaians own this infrastructure. They are entitled to know the current maintenance and operational status of every critical node in Ghana’s transmission and distribution network,” the Minority said, warning that financial neglect may have left substations and control facilities in “a state of disrepair.”
4. Minister must appear before Parliament: The Minority demanded that the Minister of Energy appear before the full House to brief MPs on generation and transmission capacity, outstanding IPP debts, the status of the ESRP, and government’s “credible, costed, and time-bound plan to end Dumsor.” “Parliament’s oversight mandate is not optional. It is constitutional,” it stressed.
5. Ensure due process for suspended officials: Addressing recent actions against the ECG CEO and Ashanti Regional leadership, the Minority said investigations must be “transparent” and “evidence-based.” “If culpability is established, the law must take its course. If it is not, those officials must be fully and publicly exonerated,” the statement read.
“This government must not sacrifice public servants on the altar of political optics while its own ministers escape accountability.”
“Managing by Misdirection”
The Minority described government’s recent actions as “choreography of an administration desperate to be seen acting while refusing to confront the true author of this catastrophe: itself.” “Suspending a CEO, reshuffling a regional management team, and calling a press briefing are not an energy policy,” it said.
The statement blamed the NDC government for abandoning a “working recovery plan” left by President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia. “They were going out because the ESRP was abandoned. They were going out because IPP obligations went uncleared, revenue shortfalls went unaddressed, and the Minister told Ghanaians that darkness was actually the light of progress.”
Vow for Parliamentary Scrutiny
“Ghanaians are not living in darkness because of what happened on 23rd April 2026. They are living in darkness because of what this incompetent government has done — and catastrophically failed to do — every single day since it assumed office in January 2025,” the Minority said.
It pledged to “pursue full parliamentary scrutiny of this energy crisis through every constitutional avenue available,” adding: “We will not allow this government to extinguish accountability as easily as it has extinguished the lights of Ghana.”
The Energy Ministry had not responded to the statement at the time of publication.
Watch video on AEYE TV Here
Source: Clement Akoloh/parliamentnews360.com
