Ghana’s Dumsor Levy: A Surprising Divide

I was chatting with my neighbor last weekend, both of us fanning ourselves in the sticky evening heat, when she mentioned the latest talk of the town: 55% of Ghanaians, according to a Global Info Analytics poll, actually support a new levy to fix the power cuts—our infamous “dumsor.” I nearly dropped my glass of sobolo. Over half the country’s okay with paying more to keep the lights on? In a place where wallets are already stretched thin? Ever hear something that makes you wonder if you’re living in the same world as everyone else?

There’s this mix of disbelief and curiosity bubbling up when I think about it. Dumsor’s been our unwanted houseguest for years—lights flickering off, fridges going silent, businesses grinding to a halt. I remember my cousin, who runs a small tailoring shop in Kumasi, cursing under her breath when the power cut mid-stitch, leaving her behind on orders. “This thing is killing us,” she’d say, her voice heavy with frustration. So when I read that 55% of folks—especially younger ones and urban dwellers—are backing a levy to fund stable electricity, I’m torn between hope and skepticism. Could this actually work?

The poll’s got some meat to it: 1,400 Ghanaians surveyed, with 45% dead-set against the levy, mostly older folks and rural communities. You can see why, right? My uncle in the village still talks about how every new tax feels like a punch to the gut when you’re already scraping by. But then, I think about my friend Kwame, a tech guy in Accra, who’s all for it. “Pay now, get power later,” he told me over a beer, his phone flashlight ready for the inevitable blackout. “We can’t keep living like this.” He’s got a point—Ghana’s power sector is a mess, with debts piling up and infrastructure creaking like an old chair.

It’s personal, you know? Last month, I was trying to finish a freelance project when the lights went out. No warning, just darkness and the hum of my laptop dying. I laughed, but it was that annoyed, “here we go again” kind of laugh. The ECG and NEDCo are promising upgrades—new transformers, better grid management—but it all comes down to money. The levy’s supposed to fund that, to stop dumsor from haunting us like it did in 2015, when blackouts were so bad people started joking about

scheduling their lives around power outages. Remember those days? Or maybe you’re still living them.

But here’s the catch: trust. Can we trust the government to use this money right? I saw a post on X where someone said, “Another levy? They’ll just chop the money and leave us in the dark.” It’s a fair worry—Ghana’s got a history of taxes disappearing into murky waters. My auntie, who’s been through too many promises, just shakes her head. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she says. And yet, 55% are willing to take the gamble. That’s what gets me—the hope, or maybe desperation, that things could get better.

So, I’m sitting here, thinking about this split in the country. Half of us are ready to chip in, hoping for a future where the lights stay on. The other half? They’re tired of promises, tired of paying for fixes that never come. It’s like we’re all stuck in this dance with dumsor, one step forward, two steps back. I want to believe in the levy, in a Ghana where power outages are just a bad memory. But trust is hard to come by. What about you? Would you pay up for a shot at steady lights, or is this just another empty promise in the dark?