Thursday, March 15, 2007

Power crisis...

There was a song in Jamaica made popular by the (then) famous DJ, King Yellow Man:…power cut a north, power cut a south, everywhere mi look mi sey di power gone out...I keep remembering it more and more these days, given the present power crisis here in Ghana.

When Ashes and I moved in July all was fine for the first month and then the load shedding started! Being a Jamaican, I am of course familiar with the frustrations of that exercise but having been cocooned in the comfort of a European city for the past couple of years, those experiences were happily forgotten. Alas, alas not anymore – back to reality.

It started with the electricity going off once every three days! Of course nearly went mad! Then it ‘improved’ as it then became once in very five days. Lo and behold, it was the week leading up to Ghana@50 and there was the grand announcement that we wouldn’t be having ‘lights off’ for the first two weeks of March! Of course this had nothing to do with the presence of twenty-five Heads of States and countless other dignitaries in the country during this period. Hmmm, and yes, we did have an overnight growth of streetlights along the major roadways.

So today is D-Day – yes, load shedding start again. Was even more worried when I saw the headlines in the Daily Graphic this morning that VALCO, the Volta Aluminum Company would as of tomorrow suspend it’s operations due to inadequate power supply from the Akosombo Dam! Sad for a country that once supplied some of it's fellow West African neighbours with electricity.

Never realized what an effect this was having on my life until I noticed how depressed I got on those days when it was our zone that was to be out. I buy the papers in the morning and hurriedly check the falling levels of the damn dam (today its 238.4 ft) and pray for the rainy season to begin and last until it’s full.

Well, never fear, the article on page 16 reassures me that the test run on the generators that the government has bought to assist in it’s emergency power programme should begin next week.

Yeah.
Right.

2 comments:

saskia said...

:) the many candle-lit nights arent inspiring you then dear?

or better yet, the many nights NOT spent in front of your computer?!

Am enjoying the blog, keeps me connected

love and more, xs

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, I remember the power cuts very well. Actually now live in the US, but returned to JA few years ago with my newborn to meet family. I was greeted by 4-hr power cuts every night for the 2 weeks that I was there. No fun with a baby....