By Baba Mohammed Issahak
Ghana could be heading towards another round of power outages, as the country is left with only two and a half days’ worth of liquid fuel to run its power generators.
This stark revelation was made by the Minister of Energy, Hon. John Jinapor, during a meeting with Parliament’s Energy Committee on Wednesday, 15 May. He admitted that the ministry is facing a critical fuel shortage, and if the situation remains unchanged, some power plants may soon shut down.
“Our capacity to keep power plants running is under serious threat,” the minister told committee members. “Car Power just sent us a letter stating that by the 18th, they will shut down their plant because we owe them over $400 million. As for the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), we owe them more than $1.7 billion.”
The minister emphasised the gravity of the situation, noting that the ministry currently lacks the funds to purchase more fuel. However, he assured the committee that the government is urgently working with the Ministry of Finance to secure the needed funding to avert a nationwide blackout.
Some Ghanaians have already begun expressing concern on social media, with many fearing a return to the dreaded “dumsor” era, the rolling blackouts that plagued the country between 2013 to early 2017 due to energy shortfalls.
