Bawumia Links NDC to Renewed Power Crisis in Post-Election Critique

Former Ghanaian Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has doubled down on his pre-election warnings about the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its handling of Ghana’s electricity shortages, known locally as dumsor.

Speaking to supporters during his ongoing “Thank You Tour,” Bawumia argued that the current administration’s struggles to stabilize power supplies validate his earlier claims that the NDC cannot resolve the country’s energy challenges.

“We told Ghanaians that the NDC and dumsor walk together, but they didn’t listen,” Bawumia said, referencing his 2024 campaign rhetoric. He tied the resurgence of blackouts to the collapse of the NDC’s flagship 24-hour economy policy, questioning how such an initiative could function without reliable electricity. “Can you have a 24-hour economy with dumsor? It is not possible,” he asserted, drawing cheers from New Patriotic Party (NPP) loyalists.

The former vice president contrasted the NDC’s four months in office with the NPP’s eight-year tenure, claiming his party limited severe outages to eight weeks during its governance. His remarks align with broader NPP efforts to reframe its 2024 electoral loss by emphasizing policy contrasts, particularly on energy management.

The term dumsor, a Ga word meaning “off-on,” became emblematic of Ghana’s 2012–2016 power crisis under former President John Mahama, with outages costing the economy an estimated $1 billion annually. While the NDC has historically defended its infrastructure investments, including the Ameri and Karpower plants, Bawumia’s latest critique revives debates over which party bears greater responsibility for the sector’s cyclical challenges.

Energy experts note that Ghana’s current grid instability stems from multiple factors, including transmission bottlenecks and financial strains on utility providers. The recent shutdown of the 560MW Sunon Asogli Power Plant, attributed to debt disputes, has exacerbated public frustration. NDC officials, however, dismiss Bawumia’s claims as politically motivated, arguing that inherited debts and legacy infrastructure issues require time to resolve.

Public sentiment remains divided, with many Ghanaians recalling the social and economic disruptions of past dumsor periods. Businesses, particularly small enterprises and hospitals, report renewed anxiety over erratic power supplies, though the government insists the situation is temporary.

Bawumia’s focus on energy policy underscores its enduring significance in Ghanaian elections, where voters often treat reliable electricity as a baseline expectation. His rhetoric also reflects internal NPP strategies to consolidate opposition narratives ahead of the 2028 polls, positioning the party as a steward of stability against what it frames as NDC mismanagement.

As Ghana grapples with these familiar challenges, the cyclical nature of the dumsor debate highlights deeper systemic issues, including underinvestment in renewable energy and politicized oversight of state utilities. With both parties leveraging the crisis for electoral gains, analysts stress that lasting solutions will require bipartisan cooperation rather than partisan blame-shifting. For now, the lights and the political jostling remain flickering.