Business and professional Women (BPW) of Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, has decried the effects of the current energy crisis especially on labouring mothers and premature babies. According to BPW, since the power outages began last year, women and children had been hit hardest; women in labour who needed to undergo caesarean operation were in danger of losing their babies while premature babies who needed to be incubated were also on the brink of losing their lives.

A statement signed by Ms Vera Kpeto, interim President of BPW, said pupils and students in the basic and tertiary institutions were denied electricity for their studies. The group bemoaned the trading of accusations and counter-accusations on the crisis, as this did not help find a solution to the problem. BPW asserted that the current power crisis was a real crisis for the people of Ghana.

They therefore called on “Government to invite experts from the Ghana Energy Commission, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Volta River Authority, Electricity Company of Ghana and lecturers from the country’s universities to discuss the best means of dealing with the situation in an objective manner that would accelerate the country’s economic growth.”

The group however commended the government for the short-term measures it had taken to reduce the harsh effects of the crisis on the citizenry. BPW took the opportunity to extend a message of condolence to the family of the late Madam Hawa Yakubu, 1st Vice Chairperson of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who passed away in a London hospital last month.

The group described her death as an irretrievable loss to women of Ghana. “Madam Hawa Yakubu was a colossus who fearlessly fought hard for women in the country. Her whole-hearted love and concern for women were not only remarkable but admirable,” it stated.