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Ghana electrical energy supplier briefly detaches parliament over financial obligation

Ghana's staterun electricity provider, ECG, briefly cut off power products to the parliament constructing on Thursday in an effort to push the legislature to honour its 23 million Ghanaian cedi ($ 1.8 million) financial obligation, an ECG spokesperson said.

A video shared by regional media revealed legislators exclaiming in the dark parliamentary chamber after the power was shut off, eventually joining together in a chant of dumsor, dumsor - black-out in the regional Twi language.

ECG has actually chosen to cut power after the legislature failed to honour demand notifications to pay up, ECG's communications director William Boateng informed .

Not long after, they paid 13 million cedi ($ 1 million) and guaranteed to pay the rest in a week, so our guys reconnected them.

A parliament spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.

The strong-arm methods come as the West African nation's. power sector comes to grips with widespread debts that have actually led. to a sharp increase in failures in the middle of a standoff between power. producers and the federal government.

Boateng stated cutting the parliament's electricity was. part of ECG's normal technique to motivate indebted customers to. pay up.

Disconnections are for everybody; anybody who does not pay. and stops working to make arrangements, the team will detach, he. said.

Legislator Edward Bawa stated a fellow member of parliament and. When the power, parliamentary personnel had actually got stuck in elevators. went down.

The entire sector is suffering under financial obligation and these are some. of the effects, Bawa told .

The government has been looking for to restructure the power. sector and seal a financial obligation handle independent power manufacturers. ( IPP) as it faces its worst economic crisis in a. generation, characterised by double-digit inflation and. ballooning public financial obligation.

In July in 2015, independent power manufacturers reached an. interim handle the ECG over defaults owed to them however assured. to shut down their plants if the issue stayed unsolved.

Ghana has 5,454 MW of set up capability, of which 4,483 MW. is available, its energy regulator stated in April 2023.

(source: Reuters)