Parliament must summon GRIDCo, Energy Minister over recurring blackouts – Adomako-Mensah

Parliament’s Energy Committee member Collins Adomako-Mensah is urging the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) and the Energy Minister to appear before Parliament to shed light on the recurring nationwide blackouts. This plea comes after a major power outage on Thursday morning, marking the second significant disruption in less than a month.

Adomako-Mensah, speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, expressed deep concern over the frequency of the outages, emphasizing the need for Parliament to demand clear answers from the entities responsible for the country’s power transmission system. "I’m just hoping that as Parliament reconvenes on an emergency situation for Monday, I just spoke to my chairman.

I think we have to call GRIDCo and the Minister to appear before the Energy Committee to give us exactly where the problems are," he said. Despite power being restored quickly following both incidents, Adomako-Mensah highlighted the repeated disruptions as a clear indication that Parliament must investigate the root causes of the power system's failures.

He also revealed that the Energy Committee has not received the report on the earlier outage, despite GRIDCo claiming it had been submitted to the Energy Minister. The committee had only viewed commentary about the report on social media and news platforms, making it difficult for them to independently verify the findings. When GRIDCo appeared before the committee in the context of an audit report, members questioned the company about the investigation’s findings.

GRIDCo reportedly stated that the report had been submitted to the Minister and ruled out sabotage as a cause of the previous incident. Adomako-Mensah stressed that the lack of access to the complete report hinders Parliament’s ability to assess the disruptions’ causes and evaluate whether the recommended corrective measures have been implemented.

He stressed that the recurring outages should trouble every Ghanaian, given the critical role of reliable electricity in businesses, households, and essential services. GRIDCo has attributed the widespread power outage to a faulty Akosombo–Volta line.