Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson has stirred up the conversation around the country’s enduring power crisis, known locally as “dumsor,” by extending an invitation to policy think-tank IMANI Africa for a collaborative vigil akin to the protest held in 2015. However, her plea has ignited a debate over accountability and consistency in addressing the issue.
In a social media post on Monday, April 22, Nelson reached out to IMANI Africa, expressing her frustration with the government’s management of the power crisis. “IMANI Ghana, can we organize another vigil? I’ve been waiting for you to reach out like you did years back,” she wrote, tagging Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and using the hashtag #DUMSORMUSTSTOP.
The actress conveyed that her initiative to directly contact IMANI stemmed from what she perceived as a lack of action from the think-tank to orchestrate a protest despite previous successful collaborations. However, her call garnered mixed reactions from IMANI Africa.
Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, responded to Nelson’s post, highlighting the organization’s ongoing efforts to hold the government accountable for the power crisis. He questioned Nelson’s consistency in amplifying IMANI’s work and accused her of overlooking their past endeavors in addressing the issue.
Meanwhile, President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, expressed willingness to collaborate with Nelson and others to orchestrate a protest against the government’s management of the power crisis. He affirmed IMANI’s dedication to critiquing government decisions and acknowledged the frustration among Ghanaians over the enduring dumsor.
Cudjoe also disclosed that preparations for a protest were already in motion within IMANI Africa. He stressed the importance of coordinated action to tackle the power crisis and proposed that various groups could organize distinct protests in different settings.
Ghanaians have been contending with months of frustration due to erratic power supply, with increasing pressure on the government to provide solutions and release a load-shedding timetable. However, despite directives from the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the Parliament’s Energy Committee, the government has remained resistant to issuing a timetable through the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
