A private legal practitioner has called for the suspension of Energy Minister John Abdulai Jinapor alongside that of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) Chief Executive Officer, arguing that accountability for the Akosombo power crisis cannot stop at the level of a utility chief executive while the supervising minister remains untouched.
Godlove Adjei Tenkorang made the call on Kumasi-based Angel FM, days after Energy Minister John Jinapor directed GRIDCo Chief Executive Officer Ing. Mark Baah Awuah to step aside pending investigations into a fire that broke out at the Akosombo power control centre on 23 April 2026.
The fire forced the shutdown of the Akosombo Hydroelectric Power Station and removed close to 1,000 megawatts from the national grid, causing widespread outages across the Ashanti Region, the Central Region and the Tema enclave. Jinapor constituted a seven-member investigative committee, chaired by Ing. Dr. William Amuna, Board Chairman of ECG, to probe the incident, with findings expected within two to three weeks.
Tenkorang argued that if the GRIDCo chief executive has been asked to step aside for the investigation, the minister responsible for the sector should do the same. “If the GRIDCo CEO has been suspended, then the Energy Minister should also be suspended for further investigations to be conducted,” he stated. “He is the overall supervisor. If supervision had been effective, perhaps some of these issues could have been mitigated.”
He cautioned that the decision to suspend the GRIDCo CEO sets a precedent that could embolden supporters to demand suspensions during every national crisis, from power outages to water supply disruptions.
The lawyer also argued that the Akosombo incident appeared to be a technical fault rather than negligence, and questioned the basis for holding the GRIDCo CEO accountable in isolation. “There are things that cannot be avoided. If it were a thunder strike or high currents that caused the fault, what could the CEO have done to prevent it? Even frequent inspections cannot eliminate such risks,” he said.
He noted that any investigation body constituted for the probe would operate independently and that the GRIDCo CEO could not influence its findings. “Even if an investigation is conducted, the body set up will be independent. The CEO cannot interfere with their findings,” he stressed.
Tenkorang also weighed in on the broader pattern of political blame he said he had observed, accusing the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of routinely attributing national problems to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) without offering solutions. He referenced claims linking the Akosombo crisis and ongoing power challenges to alleged sabotage by the NPP, which both the government and the Minister had publicly denied.
“People who reason well cannot say such things. Members of the NPP also rely on electricity for their businesses, just like everyone else. Why would they intentionally disrupt power supply to their own disadvantage?” he asked.
He argued that the GRIDCo CEO’s party affiliation, rather than any demonstrable failure, appeared to be the real motivation for the suspension. “Now everything is being politicised, and it is obvious it is because he is affiliated with the NPP that he has been sacked,” he alleged.
Tenkorang called on political actors across the board to shift focus from blame to governance. “Why are they always referring to the previous government? It is becoming excessive and reflects incompetence. If they cannot solve the issues they were elected to address, then why are they in power?” he asked.
