Businesses including those in the hospitality industry are crying for help following three days of total blackout in West Gonja.

The entire West Gonja municipality in the Savannah Region has for the past three days been plunged into total darkness, forcing several businesses and institutions to either close or operate on a low scale.

Cold stores, drinking spots, pure water producers, and educational institutions are among those badly hit. Also, institutions like the Savannah Regional Coordinating Council, West Gonja municipality including all Regional Security Commands located in Damongo are all without light.

On Monday, May 27th, 2024 the municipality was plunged into darkness and the problem has since not been fixed. Technicians brought in from Tamale could not resolve the problem.

Some business owners who shared their ordeals with JoyNews bemoaned the high-cost of powering a generator to run their businesses.

Meanwhile, a source within the Savannah regional branch of the Volta River Authority (VRA) has attributed the situation to the disruption of the Kabampe-Kanato high tension.

According to the source, unsuspected loggers and charcoal burners cut down a heavy tree along the Kabampe Larabanga highway which fell on the high-tension cable.

Some players from the hospitality industry, cold stores, drinking spots, fuel stations and radio stations have either shut down completely or are operating on a reduced scale.

"Yes, the impact on us as a fuel station is very bad because I used to buy electricity at GH¢1,500 a month but just days alone I've spent GH¢1,200 on fuel. Because the generator is working 24 hours, there is pressure on us, (in addition) nursing students, security officers, and residents all come to charge their phones but we are managing to control them due to the security at the fuel station", Abdulai Samed bemoaned.

Another fuel station operator, Seidu Razack said, "As you can see, we are just sitting here wasting like that. The painful thing is that, right after our fuel was discharged, the lights went off and you know petrol is air so we are losing a lot without selling and paying light bills too".

Just like the drinking spots, a cold store operator indicated that a lot of meat had gone bad before they managed to power their stand-by generator.

"It's not easy for us these few days. This is because I've to buy at least, three jerricans full of fuel to power the generator but the question is, for how long", he wondered.

The situation has forced some cold store operators to discharge their products into the open and selling them cheaply.