Electricity Cuts, Back Again!

The intermittent electricity supply that the country knew in the past is back in full gear. Stakeholders said the supply of gas to the emergency thermal plants in the country and which was to supply additional 100 MW of electricity was going to end the blackout that had haunted households for long.But this is yet to be true. What is however worrisome is the manner in which the energy cuts are bouncing back. Unlike before when the supplier regularly published programmes of the cuts and which was largely diffused, there seems to be information blackout as to what is happening now.

At the Kondengui neighbourhood in Yaounde on Tuesday April 30, inhabitants were deprived of the energy supply only when they needed it most. An inhabitant recounted how the people who were already glued to their television sets to watch the scintillating return-leg semi-final match of the European Champions League pitting Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund were denied the pleasure of the game only when the kicker was given. "We thought the cut would be for about five minutes or so as it is usually the case, but it raged on till the end of the game. People screamed as if a youngster had given up the ghost but that did not change the situation. They ran at all directions in search of a neighbourhood where they could watch the game. "We can understand power shortages but when it comes at certain moments, it is taken for bad faith on the part of the supplier," he said.

At the Etoug-ebe neighbourhood on Sunday April 28, there was no screaming like the case in Kondengui, apparently because the lights went off in the morning, but the prejudice it caused to users was more or less the same. "I just got out of bed and at the time I was preparing to iron my dresses lights went off and never came before I left the house. I had to wear what I had not planned to and children went to school with uniforms not ironed, Ekosse L. said. Similar cases of unannounced power cuts are reported in several neighbourhoods in Yaounde and other towns in the country with varying consequences. All attempts to get explanations from Aes Sonel yesterday May 1 failed as officials were reportedly off duty given that it was a public holiday.