Like Nigeria, Ghana Suffers Power System Collapse

Like her closest anglophone neighbour to the left, Ghana suffered a nationwide power cut on Sunday, the West African country’s electricity provider GRIDCo said, as it attempted to restore power.

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) said it was dealing with “a total system shutdown”.

In Nigeria, power system collapses have been a regular feature despite the billions of dollars spent in the last 22 years of democracy. Not less than $10 billion have been spent on Nigeria power systems, but the situation is no better today, as administration after administration since 1999 has often given excuses for failure in the important sector.

Ghana used to be the example for Nigerians desirous of steady power supply, but the situation appears worsening there.

“At approximately 2.10pm on Sunday March 07, 2021, a challenge in the power system led to a total system shutdown. This led to an interruption in power supply to all parts of the country,” the company said in a statement.

“The technical team is currently working to restore power supply,” it added. “GRIDCo is also working to ascertain the reasons behind the total system shutdown.”

Ghanaians took to social media to express their frustration.

“Can you give us a timetable for these power outages. It’s so not cool. We’re fed up and we can’t continue to suffer in this heat in our own homes,” Vivian Quartey posted on Facebook.

“GRIDCo and ECG what is this? Do you want to destroy our home appliances? Enough!!” Frank Dodoo added on Twitter.

Power had still not returned in the capital Accra by 1845 GMT, an AFP reporter said.

Some 84 percent of Ghana’s population has access to electricity, according to the World Bank — one of the highest rates in sub-Saharan Africa.

The country has both hydropower and thermal plants fuelled by crude oil and natural gas, and exports power to Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso.

However, power cuts are frequent — a problem that sparked major demonstrations in Ghana in 2015.

The country has enjoyed one of the fastest rates of economic growth in the world since the 2000s, fuelled by its significant supplies of gold, cocoa and oil.

However, some regions continue to suffer chronic poverty, and the global Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to Ghana’s economy.

Ghana’s economic growth is set to fall this year to 0.9 percent, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts — the lowest rate for 30 years.

Additional reports by AFP