#DumsorMustStop!; A Lighted Vigil That Lit A Darkened Ghana

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It was a fortnight full of what looked like a shaky planning but has its climax that shall remain a historic march in the annals of Ghana. I dare say it may be our modern version of the March on Wall Street in our struggle for light.

dumsorAbout a week ago, I had a chat with a Zambian acquaintance during which the usual suspect of African interactions(the Continent?s development) came up. He talked about an experience he had at a lecture during which the lecturer (of European descent) said Ghana is the light and star of Africa in development and democracy. He suddenly observed that the Ghanaians in the class started laughing after that statement was made. So after the lecture, the Zambian approached his Ghanaian colleagues and asked what the cause of the laughter was? Well, your guess is right?

With a history of power outages which has been traced to the ?70s, Ghanaians can be said to have gone through different stages and varied experiences associated with this menace. Certainly, there?s no need to recount the very essence of electricity in today?s world. Being it in health, economy, agriculture, education, entertainment and indeed all spheres of human engagement, power is critical. This implies that regardless of one?s background: being it social status, age or whatever distinguishing factor, an individual will be faced with some amount of a challenge with power outages.

As expected, the cancerous impact of our partisan politics could not allow us to express the challenges we go throughas a result of ?dumsor? (a local word in a Ghanaian language for frequent power outage). Arguably, it may be competing with corruption as the foremost word on the lips of the Ghanaian in the past decade.Despite the availability of alternatives such as generator, solar panel or inventor, lots of us cannot afford any of these.These remain the luxury of the rich, at least from the perspective of the huge majority of Ghanaians. Surprisingly, those who use these alternatives are also complaining about the seriousness of the problem: the alternatives cannot run their businesses since comparatively, these alternatives increases the cost of production hence reducing profit.Oh! Yeah, that reminds me; those who could not afford the ?I pass my neighbour? sets (the more friendly name used in Nigeria, our seniors in darkness), also have an option. Yes, the ?bobo? (?akanekpui?) and lanterns will come in handy. But don?t forget that fuel prices have just been increased few hours ago and so they are faced with another complication.

The proverbial blame game of our Ghanaian society took centre stage even in this national moment of crisis. While the main opposition political party accuses the governing administration of being incompetent in rectifying the problem, the latter reminds the former of doing same or less while they were confronted with same in the past. We cannot continue to delude ourselves, even while at the point of death, all in the name of politics. The government keeps giving reasons why we are in this doom-like situation today. Quite unexpectedly, the reasons ain?t coherent. This, to me, is the greatest part of the anger in most of us. For instance, on daily basis, we hear government communicators compelling us to believe that saboteurs, either being members of the main opposition party or their loyalists,arethose causing the blackout. Well, let?s assume for once that that is true. So if an opposition party can control a governing administration?s ability of managing a critical national entity such as power for at least 3 years, then why should the governing administration still be in power? Wait a minute! How about this: Is it the opposition party that has made the government spokespersons tell us the outage will be reduced with the importation of power barges by the end of last month, April? Certainly, I cannot say I have not heard these same spokespersons say government has not given the improvement deadline of April and that that was a machination from the media. Isn?t that interesting? Where were these communicators when this ?filla? was in the country for several weeks (indeed, months) prior to the expiration of the ?deadline?? Why should they keep mute (and indeed, some even echoed same during the period) only to come to deny this after the ?deadline?? A government in power ready to solve a power crisis? Yes, the government may be doing some things to ?fix? the perennial power crisis but of what use is medicine to a dying person when the medicine will only come after his death? Isn?t it a basic principle in project development and management that solutions proffered to tackle a critical and very pressing problem should be three phased: short, medium and long ?termed based? Well, I cannot, also, forget ever hearing the joke that the government is waiting to solve the problem next year so that the assumed short memory of Ghanaians won?t be lost before the presidential and parliamentary elections in the same year since that will mean gaining more votes from electorates. What a serious joke! How else can we be backward when we continue to think or assumed to be thinking about only the next election all the time when people have power powering their country without interruption for even a second? Well, I did not say we can become like them overnight but we will NEVER become like them if we continue to think ONLY about the next election. We are capable of becoming like them or even take a shorter duration to attain their current status and even surpass them but that can happen if and only if we change our ways of doing things. Enough of the jokes, fellow countrymen and women!

What has become of the Power Ministry created as a response to solving the outage? Well, I agree it is still ?young? and we ought to give the Minister and his people time to ?grow? the Ministry. But don?t forget what our elders say: a chick that will grow to become a cock is spotted right from the day it is hatched. Well, am not an energy expert but it baffles me to accept the fact that we cannot develop our hydropower despite the huge potential available for that, that is, assuming that what some so-called experts say about solar power being too expensive to develop in Ghana is true. How about wind and gas (expansion)? Is it that, as a people, we are still yet to realize that power (electricity) is as basic as water, air and food in today?s world?

Yeah but what was the much hullabaloo prior to the vigil about? Do we now have a town in Ghana called ?NPP Town? where the power outage is more intense than other places in the country? How about ?NDC Town? where the inhabitants are enjoying the now extinct goody called electricity? Need I say no one can blame the main opposition political party for any potential benefit they may accrue from the vigil? Well, if you care to know; whether there was a vigil or not, they are already making political capital out of it. Why not? Isn?t the purpose of leadership being to work to solve the problems of one?s followers? But come to think of it: our main opposition is in a state of eternal internal shreds. What a country!

How about the hypocritical nature of our people? We intentionally do illegal connection of electricity in our various homes and places of work. We either do it ourselves or know people around us who do it. Certainly, we also do not pay our expected electricity bills in full or on time. How then do we expect the government to develop the power sector? People blame the workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for not being effective and efficient. Some of these workers, sad to say, are ready to take tips or ?tsobo? instead of the right electricity bill that a consumer has to pay for. For me, the administration has been voted for to solve this and other challenges of the people and so here again the buck stops with the government specifically the presidency.

Indeed, the illumination provided by the different lighting equipment used for the vigil lit Ghana (Accra as is used in the diplomatic arena). The ?dumsor? vigil brought about the much-needed light to the people of Ghana. Yes, it did. I know the flickers of illumination that marked the Legon ? Tetteh Quarshie road disappeared after 9pm on Saturday, May 16 but the illumination it provided by the thousands who marched has given light to Ghanaians. The#DumsorMustStop vigil has lit Accra by lighting the conscious of the people. Certainly, whether this vigil is repeated or not, it has made a legible mark that should get any serious government thinking. Should I say we should not forget how the Arab Spring started? I saw a post on Facebook that says this may as well be the beginning of our version of the Arab Spring. Watch out! Ghana Spring may just be springing up!

Source: Lawer Egbenya
(www.laweregbenya.blogspot.com / [email protected])

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