It has been quite a while since my last posting.
Once you finish reading this piece, I
am very sure you will forgive me before I ask for your forgiveness.
Over the last five or six months, Ghana has been
suffering from a disease called “dumsor”. It is not related to ebola, and not
deadly to humans, but very deadly to foods that require refrigeration and to
appliances air-conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, and light bulbs.
The problem is that, nobody seem to have a handle on
the situation that brought on this disease, and if those who are in a position
to know really know, they are NOT talking.
a a) Because,
one is afraid of losing his or her job or
b) One
is being threatened.
This is blogger is NOT obligated to anybody inside
Ghana or outside, so I tell it the way it is. There are three distinct entities
that get the electricity form production source to the average home, factory,
or end-user. First, there is Volta River Authority (VRA), Gridco, Electricity
Company of Ghana (ECG).
Power in Ghana is generated at many sources by VRA.
From the generating point, Gridco takes over and send the power available to it
through their transmission lines to user points. Finally, ECG hooks the
end-user to their meter and the user points.
Having work as an electrical Insulation engineer for
companies like Westinghouse Electric and General Electric, I know enough to say
without reservation that the insulation system in motors, generators and
transformers do aged, and the equipment needs to be taken out of service, stripped
and parts with new insulation materials inserted into the equipment, once this
is done, the equipment is virtually a new equipment, and a brand spanking new
Warranty is given by the manufacturer. If you wait until the equipment break
down, then, there is going to be a possible fire, that could destroy the
internal parts of the equipment, and the copper, aluminum and iron parts would
be rendered useless.
My own gut feeling is that, some equipment that
should have been take out of service many years ago, were not taken out;
equipment has been destroyed beyond salvaging.
Over the last seven months, there have been rotating
blackout in Ghana. Initially, there was schedule that was publish in one of the
dailies that tells when certain towns and cities from one end of Ghana (North
to South, East to West) can happily look forward to being blacked-out (12 hour
on 12 hours off). But since Christmas, that schedule is no longer publish.
Blackout or “dumsor” comes without notice (minimum 24 hours off and maximum 12
hours on). Appliances get destroyed because power goes off and comes back with
power surge (ready or NOT here it comes). There have been rumors that, in areas
where there are top execs of VRA, Gridco or ECG residing, dumsor does NOT
exsist.
Coca cola has just announce a possible lay-off of
some of their employees because regular production is being done with backup
generators (which is costing them more money).
If you are contemplating doing business in Ghana, my
advice is WAIT until the present situation changes. The hippos are running wild
in Ghana
Welcome to
Ghana.
