Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Social media taunts NPP with NAPO’s ‘fix your own timetable’ comment

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Dr. Amin Adam led the Minority Caucus to demand a load-shedding timetable Dr. Amin Adam led the Minority Caucus to demand a load-shedding timetable

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has faced significant backlash from some Ghanaian social media users following their request for the incumbent government to publish a load-shedding timetable.

During a press briefing on what they referred to as the ‘True State of the Nation Address’ on March 3, 2025, the Minority, led by former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, accused the government of mismanaging the country’s power situation.

The Minority argued that the frequent power outages have heightened uncertainties regarding the country’s economic growth prospects.

“The government’s handling of the power situation has increased uncertainty about the economic growth prospects this year. The promises by the president in his address to the nation to fix the current ‘dumsor’ cannot be different from those he made during the four years of ‘dumsor’ endured by Ghanaians between the end of 2011 and 2016,” the Minority said.

They continued to state; “Mr. President, you did not fix ‘dumsor’ as you claimed in your address. Your record on ‘dumsor’ is abysmal, unlike your predecessor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who kept the lights on.

“… To ameliorate the impact of these erratic power supplies, we the Mighty Minority call on the government to publish a load-shedding timetable to help people and businesses plan effectively to offset some of the losses the economy is currently suffering from.”

However, the Minority’s demand, which aimed to prompt the government to take immediate action in resolving the power issues, seems to have backfired, at least, largely online.

Critics have pointed out that when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was the Majority caucus, they dismissed similar calls from Ghanaians for a load-shedding timetable.

These critics specifically referenced an interview with the former Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, in March 2024, in which he responded to calls for a load-shedding timetable by telling those requesting it to provide the timetable themselves.

Critics have questioned the moral authority of the Minority to make such demands of the government, pointing out that they failed to address the power crisis when they had the opportunity.

They have highlighted what they perceive as the hypocritical nature of politicians, who, despite not responding to the public’s concerns in the past, are now calling for immediate action.

What NAPO said in 2024

The former Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, suggested that those asking for a timetable for the erratic power outages ongoing in the country, at the time, should provide it themselves.

In what could be termed as a cheeky answer to a question posed by a journalist, in a video shared by JoyNews on X, the minister stated that he did not see the need for any timetable when the power distributor said what was happening in the country did not need one.

“Ask those who want it to bring it, if there is. I haven’t seen any timetable,” he stated.

Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh had earlier denied that the country had returned to the days of ‘dumsor,’ as what the erratic power supply in the country under John Dramani Mahama was referred to.

“If we are comparing four years, four years, NPP administration energy sector is 300 times better than John Mahama… it’s far much better than John Mahama ever did…

“I’ve promised you that we are going to work on it and it’s not a work that is a single event; it’s a process, and we’ll continue to work on it for the energy sector to become better,” he stated.

MAG/AE

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