Electricity is one of the basic requirements of a state. It determines the level of investment both foreign and local. It provides self-employment for our local traders especially; those producing ice cream, selling cold drinks and ice cubes etc. It also helps to preserve our food stuffs.
For several months now Freetown and other parts of the nation have been experiencing consistent power cut, causing lot of harm to our food stuff and electrical appliances. The cry of “light don cam” was a thing of the past in the last ten years of the former administration.
Now “light don cam” has become the common catchphrase of the Freetown communities. And has almost reasserted a firm foothold in the country with intermittent power supplies, as every other day, there is power cut. As if the system is allergic to electricity supply. It is the hope of all that the present government will improve on the electricity supply to boast the economy. Electricity generation has been the biggest challenge for the past and present government.
There was this Turkish karpower ship which came to supplement the electricity generation in Freetown. The ship was first contracted by the then All people’s Congress (APC) while in power. The same contract was extended by the present Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP).
At the initial stage of the contract, the SLPP charged that the money paid to the ship was too much, but however succumb to give Freetown sustainable electricity. All went well, till the day we heard that the ship had left for Turkey. We were expecting the government to have explained to the people the ordeal of the ship but to no avail, only to be greeted with punctuated electricity supplies.
The rainy season is coming to an end and Bumbuna cannot generate enough electricity during the dry season making life difficult for people in the city. EDSA is there collecting pre-paid and meter rental from the populace without providing the required electricity.
Pre-paid guarantees availability and supply of the commodity. Each and every blessed day there is power cut affecting communities without generators. If government should endeavour to announce that there is going to be power cut for such a period, then the people will have a resolute mind to adjust to emerging situations of such nature. That is not done but to allow the people to grumble and perish in darkness.
Electricity has been our problem. Power cut, low shedding and high shedding sometimes dominate the day and night. Consumers in most communities have been mobilizing resources, pay EDSA workers to remedy the situation. At times the problems are solved and then emerged again to cause the unpalatable situation.
Former president Ernest Bai Koroma did his utmost best to make electricity available within his first one hundred days in power. He promised and he did. We appreciated his good work, though now being harassed by the failed and politically pushed Anti-Corruption Commission yet we can hardly forget his extension of electricity supply to the provincial areas. These attracted investors internally and externally. Some parents were able to sell cold water, ice cube and many more in the maintenance of income generating activities to address household chores. Governance is continuity. We were expecting the SLPP government to have followed the same direction of constructive national development to address the problem of electricity. The rural electrification on solar panels is good, but the nation needs more generators to sustain our electricity supply. It is the aspiration of the people to enjoy perfect and interruption electricity. The present is fully aware of the deficiency and need to arrest the situation for the good of the nation.
In every shape or form electricity cannot be divorced from the people. Yester years, we celebrated that the “Kabbah Tigers” have been defeated and Freetown is no longer known as the darkest city in the world. It seems the celebration is gradually coming to an end as we are reverting to those old days where “Kabbah Tigers” became the household name.
Most recent along Rawdon Street, an electric generator was engulfed in fire and caused a lot of panic for the owners and the traders around to put it out. Fire Force came but met the fire incident under control. Had it not been that the generator was placed outside of the building, it should have cost colossal destruction to lives and property in the congested business area.
Electricity is one of the attractive factors that attract investors. Investors are keen on that to reduce the cost of production to maximize profit. There machines are generated by electricity to give their maximum output. Electricity is costly and it is highly needed not only to maintain the beatification or brightness of the communities but to facilitate productivity.
Electricity is a measure to evaluate the government. The need to address the issue is vital important if the government is keen to attract foreign investors, add more life to the economy. The battle to maintain clean electricity supply has gone for too long with a backward and forward movement. Providing electricity is not the problem but its sustainability. The tariffs are high and consumers have no way but to pay. Paying is not the problem but its availability.
EGTC and EDSA need to work very hard as private institutions to constantly provide the nation with electricity. Privatization of our electricity is to ensure effective and efficient power supply which EGTC and EDSA have vowed to provide. If EDSA can make prepaid available to the regular customers, they should provide the service needed. Tariffs have increased on electricity and people are complying to pay. If EDSA cannot manage the electricity supply, it is better to back off than to continue punctuating electricity supply.
Some of the electrical cables are faulty and need to be changed. It is not the responsibility of the customers to change the main electricity cable provided by EDSA. EDSA should see to it that the wirings are correct, provide the needed electricity. Every other day people have to call EDSA complaining or contributing money to pay EDSA to amend electrical problem. The problem are not caused by the consumers but by the faulty cables connected by the very EDSA. EDSA should continually check their installations and do the necessary repairs to avoid low and high shedding to avoid disaster to lives and property. Houses should be checked not only for stolen electricity but for bad wiring. If EDSA could do this, it will help to provide security to lives and property.
