''Dumsor": A National Issue

  

 by Sam Kleinot

 A frequent problem in Ghana, power outages have been occurring in the country since 2001. This was due to the water levels in the main hydro electric dam, the Akosombo Dam, dropping considerably, thus reducing generator capacity. The levels increased in 2008, and the problem was, albeit temporarily, resolved. Unfortunately, these power outages, which can often last up to 24 hours, have become far more prominent since early 2012, when the current President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, took office. “Load shedding” (cutting off power to certain regions in order to reduce overall electricity demand) has become very common, and Ghana has suffered many consequences as a result. These power blackouts have become so common, that the country's inhabitants have even come up with a nickname for them: “dumsor” (pronounced doom-so).

Dumsor entered the Ghanaian vernacular in 2012, and is a Twi (the most used tribal language in the south of Ghana) word. Literally translated as “off and on”, it expresses almost a kind of fatalism, that the public are powerless to do anything about the blackouts, as well as disappointment and mockery of the government that allows dumsor to take place. The word has also become synonymous with the current Mahama regime, with the President himself even receiving the nickname “Mr Dumsor”. It has since gained popularity on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where the hashtag #dumsormuststop began trending. Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson and popular rap artist Sarkodie used social media as platforms to spread their message of protest about the outages, with the latter even releasing a song about them. Due to the fact that it is very uncommon for celebrities in Ghana to get involved politics, this has captured the attention of many people, and has also drawn criticism from some. However, the vast majority of the population agree with Nelson and Sarkodie, and hundreds joined them in a vigil in Accra a protest against dumsor. 

 

In Savelugu, dumsor is frequently accompanied by lightning storms like the one Adam captured here.

In countries such as the United Kingdom and United States, power failures are viewed as a very serious issue, with the effects they have on important services such as airports and hospitals always taken into account, despite the fact that they rarely last more than an hour. In Ghana, however, the government consistently promises to fix the problem, only for it to remain. In 2013, the World Bank carried out a survey on the economic potential of African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria. It noted that the ongoing electricity problems was the biggest barrier to the country's growth, and also a huge deterrent to multinational companies who wish to invest in the country, as they list a sufficient and reliable power supply as a definite need. The harm that dumsor is doing to Ghana at a national level is by no means small, with the Ghana Port and Harbour Authority (GPHA) reporting that it lost over US$100,000 (GH₵383,000) in profit due to a 24 hour long power failure at Tema Harbour, one of the largest ports in Western Africa, additionally the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) stated that Ghana lost around US$1,000,000 (GH₵38,2750,000) in 2014 alone due to dumsor. Clearly, it is a huge problem for the country as a whole, but also affects people at a very personal level.

In order to identify the issues that dumsor creates at a micro level, we decided to talk to some of the members of the communities we are working with about it. We spoke to Addrissu Fati, who is from the village of Kukuo, and Aishatu Osman, from Naprisi. They both spoke at length about how dumsor has gotten worse recently. “The lights used to go off once every two weeks, but now they just go whenever”, Addrissu told us. There used to be announcements on the radio as to when dumsor would occur, but now “there is no warning, we only know that dumsor is going to happen when it rains”, according to Aishatu. Their personal lives are also affected, for example Aishatu told us that the lack of light really affects the carrying out of household chores in the evening, and when the weather is bad it makes them doubly difficult. Addrissu brings a little income into her home by selling chilled water, however she told us “dumsor means that the fridge stops working, and the water is warm. People are not willing to pay for warm water”. 

 Perhaps most importantly is the effect that the outages have on their income generating activities (IGAs); the ways in which they bring money into their communities. “When the power is gone, we can't use the grinding mill as it's powered by electricity,” Addrissu told us, “it means that when we go to the market we often have very little, if anything, to sell.” Aishatu spoke of similar issues, “when we prepare the shea nuts [for processing before they are made into shea butter], it is often done at night. Without light, it is very challenging and it means we often have to do it in the early morning, which means we have to go to the market later and have less time to sell our product”. The fact that dumsor is affecting the communities' IGAs means that it is really detracting from our mission to help them bring more income into their homes, which highlights it as a serious issue. Both women agreed that dumsor is a very serious problem, and has to be solved if Ghana wishes to take its place in the developed world.