Ghana's opposition says to protest against erratic power supply

Ghana's largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said here Tuesday it would hit the streets on Feb. 18 to protest against the erratic power supply in the country.

Addressing a press conference at the party's national headquarters in Accra, General Secretary of the party Kwabena Agyapong said the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration had given enough evidence to prove that they could not solve challenges confronting the country.

Agyapong stated: "Ghanaians are not happy with how government is managing the ongoing power crisis. I don't think government understands what Ghanaians are going through and the worst is they don't even want to explain or indicate when the issue will be resolved."

The West African country is struggling to meet the growing demand for electricity, leading to a massive load shedding exercise across six out of the ten regions (provinces) of the country.

The erratic power supply has worsened in the past few weeks with consumers enjoying 12 hours of electricity and 24 hours of darkness.

It has also led to a number of businesses cutting down on their labor force.

The Association of Ghana Industries has called for a short-term, time-based action plan to reduce the energy deficit in order to resolve the current energy crisis.

President John Dramani Mahama has assured the nation he would do everything within his capacity to salvage the power situation. Endi