A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) legal team, Bernard Kwame Owiredu Esq, has stated that President Mahama cannot claim that the widespread power outages Ghanaians are experiencing are not “dumsor”.

In a recent interview, he said the President should be realistic and acknowledge that it is “dumsor”, arguing that the outages are so widespread and dispersed that they cannot simply be explained by planned maintenance as he claims.

Mr Owiredu pointed out that the replacement of transformers has been ongoing on a daily basis. He said the President should therefore not suggest that Ghanaians are experiencing outages merely because of such works.

“Last week I was watching a Champions League match and my light went off. A friend in Weija called me and asked if I had light because he wanted an update on the game. Weija and Ofankor are so dispersed and widespread that it cannot be planned maintenance.

“The President should be very realistic with all of us. Sometimes when you tell us the reality on the ground, we brace ourselves for it, but if you are a bit cosmetic about it like he is doing right now,” he stated.

He added that this situation is synonymous with President Mahama’s earlier tenure, noting that Ghanaians went through similar conditions between 2013 and 2016 when he was governing.

Mr Owiredu reiterated that President Mahama should confirm to Ghanaians that his era has come again with “dumsor”, so that people can prepare themselves with generators and solar power, as well as with a workable timetable to help them stay informed.

“Mr President, we are okay if your tenure has come again with ‘dumsor’. We have been used to it in 2013; we will brace ourselves for it. Generator business will boom again, solar business will boom again, but the assurances that it is just transformer replacement, you are not being realistic,” he uttered.