Despite a downpour in the early hours of Monday morning in Sandema, some residents trooped onto the streets to register their displeasure at frequent erratic power outages in the Municipality and its environs. 

The residents, some of whom were clad in red T-shirts, held electrical appliances including television sets, rice cookers, and ceiling and standing fans, pressing irons among others, indicated that the appliances were damaged as a result of the erratic power outages in the area for the past several months. 

The demonstrators amidst heavy Police presence, moved peacefully to the Volta River Authority (VRA)/Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) to submit a petition to management about the power situation in the Municipality which extended to the Builsa South and Yagba-Kobore Districts. 

Mr Theophilus Awennisiak Akoba, the Convenor and Lead Petitioner for the demonstrators, who presented a copy of the petition to management of VRA/NEDCo in Sandema, said the erratic power outages had “bedeviled us for many years now, yet your organisation has failed to pay serious attention to our plight on the matter.” 

He recalled that the Paramount Chief of the Area, Nab Azagsuk Azantilow in his address at the 2022 Foek festival celebration, appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who graced the occasion, for a sub-station to solve the power situation in the Municipality. 

The residents, through the Lead Petitioner, indicated that no sub-station had been constructed even though the President assured the Chief the area would be given a sub-station. 

He called on duty-bearers to as a matter of urgency, act to ensure the construction of a power sub-station in the area which according to him would permanently solve the problem. 

The demonstrators also presented a copy of the petition to Madam Vida Akantagriwen Anaab, the Municipal Chief Executive, who thanked them for embarking on the peaceful exercise to register their displeasure. 

She told the demonstrators that the power situation was of concern to all residents, and gave the assurance that the petition would be forwarded to the appropriate quarters for redress. 

Some demonstrators who shared their frustrations about the situation with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the businesses and electrical gadgets were damaged owing to the intense erratic power fluctuations. 

Madam Matilda Aliesa, a demonstrator, who carried a flat-screen television on her head, said “We are pleading with the President and his government to help us. The power situation is really affecting us greatly,” 

Another resident, Mr Kwabena Okansima, who also had a flat-screen television on his head, said “We get power outages more than 10 times every night. My co-tenants gadgets are damaged is just that we cannot carry all here, else you would have seen the massive damage caused. 

“We are not on the street to fight or cause any problems. We just want the officers responsible to hear us and the fix the problem so we all live comfortably in this town. That is all we demand,” he told the GNA. 

Sharing similar concerns, Madam Rosalina Ayeayam, another participant who was also holding a ceiling fan, said “We the women are suffering. We cannot preserve our food in refrigerators. Every night, the power goes off more than 10 times. 

“I recently bought this my fan and other one at home for GHS 1,200.00, but see, they are damaged now, and the cost involved in repairing them is too much. 

“Electrical appliances these days are very expensive. We struggle to buy, and this dumsor damages them in seconds. Something urgent needs to be done to solve this problem,” she said.