Following partial settlement of over GH₵10 million of the outstanding debt, Parliament has now been successfully reconnected to the national grid.
Parliament faced a temporary disconnection from the national grid by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) task force due to a substantial debt of GH₵23 million owed by the Legislature.
The sudden disconnection plunged the parliamentary chamber and MPs’ offices into darkness, leading to disruptions such as staff and members getting trapped in elevators. Swift action by fire service personnel was necessary to rescue those stuck in the affected elevators.
Read: Dumsor hits parliament as ECG cut off power over Ghc23m debt\
However, per checks by ATLFMNEWS from Joy NEWS online, following the partial settlement of the outstanding debt of GHC 23m ($1.8m), power has been restored to Parliament.
The power outage occurred during a session where legislators were deliberating on President Akufo-Addo’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA). Amid the discussions, outgoing Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, was providing clarifications on the President’s speech when the power supply was disrupted.
The outage prompted vocalizations of “Dumsor, Dumsor!” from the Minority party within the house, reflecting concerns about potential energy challenges reminiscent of past periods of erratic power supply in Ghana.
These events unfolded amidst existing public grievances regarding inconsistent electricity provision, adding to the ongoing discourse around power stability in the country.
Recently, the Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama who explained the reason behind the power interruption at Parliament mentioned that ECG was focusing on collecting revenue while Parliament was in session to settle an outstanding debt.
During an interview on Starr FM, Samuel Mahama emphasized that as Parliament carried out its tasks on Thursday, February 29, ECG was also fulfilling its responsibilities.
The outage was reportedly part of ECG’s “Operation Zero Balance” initiative.
The power outage affected the Parliament House and the Job 600 offices where MPs work.
Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS
