Former Deputy Energy Minister Collins Adomako-Mensah has argued that the recent Akosombo fire did not trigger Ghana’s power instability but rather exposed and worsened vulnerabilities that already existed within the electricity system.
Mr Adomako-Mensah who is also the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Energy Committee made the observation in an interview with NR News, suggested that the national conversation must move beyond treating the fire as the sole explanation for the current outages.
According to him, intermittent disruptions were already being experienced before the incident at Akosombo, raising important questions about broader system resilience.
He recalled that government had earlier attributed supply instability to ongoing transformer upgrades and technical interventions aimed at strengthening the grid.
For him, that admission alone shows the underlying challenges predate the fire outbreak.
“The fire has made a difficult situation more precarious, but it did not start the problem,” he maintained.
The MP said the current moment should prompt a deeper examination of the power system’s preparedness, maintenance culture and emergency response capacity.
Adomako-Mensah acknowledged the Akosombo fire was unforeseen and unfortunate, but praised engineers working to restore the affected units.
He referenced expectations that all six units could return online, while noting the public needs timely updates on progress.
But beyond restoration, he said the country must confront structural questions including how resilient is the transmission and generation system? How quickly can supply shocks be absorbed? Are upgrades keeping pace with demand and operational risk?
For the former deputy minister, these are the questions the crisis should provoke.
He also linked the technical issues to the need for stronger communication from government, saying uncertainty about the source and duration of the problem has compounded public frustration.
He urged the Energy and Green Transition Minister, Dr John Abdulai Jinapor to use his anticipated briefing not only to provide updates but to level with the public about the broader state of the system.
Adomako-Mensah noted that because the Minister has extensive experience in the sector, expectations are high for a comprehensive response.
He said the minister must go beyond reassurance and provide clarity on both short-term recovery and medium-term system stabilization.
At the heart of his intervention is a warning against treating the crisis as an isolated incident.
He argued that doing so risks missing an opportunity to address systemic weaknesses.
He also renewed calls for a load management timetable, describing it as a practical necessity while technical work continues.
Businesses, he said, cannot continue absorbing losses under unpredictable supply conditions.
For him, transparency about the scale of the challenge is not an admission of failure but part of responsible governance.
He further suggested the current moment should trigger a broader national conversation on infrastructure investment and energy security.
With growing demand, aging assets and operational risks, he implied Ghana may need a renewed focus on long-term resilience planning.
His remarks cast the ongoing outages not simply as a temporary disruption linked to a fire, but as a warning signal about deeper issues within the power sector.
And in that framing, the current crisis is not only about restoring supply — it is about strengthening the system against future shocks.
According to Hon Adomako-Mensah, that is the larger lesson Ghana cannot afford to ignore.
By: Christian Kpesese
