Was Ghana really surprised by the sudden break-down of Akosombo Dam? I mean, did Akosombo Dam break-down without warning us? Well, I was young, but i remember quite vividly that this Dam tried to give us all the signs ,it possibly could, that its demise was very imminent. However, we didn't listen well enough (of course, as usual).
Well, as forward looking agents, we should have been expecting this energy crisis way back and accordingly be preparing for it. However, the authorities (politicians) were busily coming up with ways to increase their wealth and hence could not have even taken note of the clear complaints of the dam. Now their mistakes and selfishness have costed us what could have easily been prevented.
Why is it that we wait for us to be struck by calamity before we start finding solutions? Isn't such an approach to solving problems unneccessarily and ridiculously costly? What prevented us from preventing this disaster before it really hit us as hard as it has. Isn't it hard to go from a liberal supplier of energy to a liberal needy of energy within some few decades? How did these politicians do it? I guess it's not difficult for a politician to screw up, is it?
I am angry and bitter because it seems the hopes of our people and our children are being shattered by self-interested and non-caring individuals. I am even angrier and more bitter because these authorities would not listen to the cries and knowledge of the concerned natives. A colleague of mine (name withheld) said he, four years ago, predicted the plausible failure of the Akosombo dam (through writing to the relevant authorities) but didn't even get a notice of receipt from them. I believe him because several salient projects i have suggested to ministry of Agriculture and ministry of Information have not yielded the right attention.
We definitely need answers from these politicians, explaining to us why this energy crisis was inevitable. Indeed, Se Aboa no nya wo na orenka wo a, onfee ne se nkyere wo (vaguely translated: the lion that would not bite you would not growl at you). Well let me help them construct an excuse: "well, you know Ghana is not well-endowed, and we are HIPC and we knew this was going to happen but we didnt have money and bla bla bla bla". Oh another one: "Oh you know we can't predict the weather and it's not been raining nowadays and we have no control on rain and on on on of nothing but gibberish." We do sympathize that rain is beyond human control but didn't you guys give the same reason four years back and even last year. So Why do they tell us this story over and over again. Well i guess they know that we are memoryless and hence easily manipulated.
Thinking about it: if we couldn't prevent the crisis, how come we are attempting to solve it now that it has happened?

Yen Ara Asaase Ni and Our destiny lies in our own hands.