Dumsor

Dumsor is a popular Ghanaian term used to describe persistent electric power outages which have resulted due to the insufficient power production to meet the population growth of the country. Insufficient power supply means that a load shedding exercise is carried out daily by the Ghana Grid Company and Electricity Company of Ghana^. The term started gaining prominence in 2009 when water levels of the Akosombo Dam dropped significantly which consequently led to a load shedding exercise due to the reduced generation capacity of the country's main hydro-electric dam. The load shedding exercise has since continued and has plunged the country into a major power crisis.


                                                           USAGE 
The word has been used by the general public in Ghana in expressing anger at and disappointment in authorities of the NDC Government.It has also gained popularity via social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #Dumsor. The term is a compound word generated from two words from the Twi dialect of the Akan language (a language spoken widely in Ghana): dum (to turn off or quench) and sɔ(to turn on or to light). In 2015, John Mahama used the word in a state visit to Germany while talking with Angela Merkel, he indicated he has been nicknamed "Mr. Dumsor" due to the power crisis, where he attributed it to Nigeria for not supplying gas as required to Ghana through the West Africa Gas Pipeline.