The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has attributed the widespread power outage experienced across parts of Ghana in the early hours of Thursday, August 20, 2026, to a major fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line.

The disruption occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m., resulting in the loss of electricity supply to several parts of the country and leaving households, businesses and other facilities without power.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, August 20, GRIDCo said the fault triggered the automatic tripping of the Akosombo generating units as well as some thermal generating plants.

The company explained that the automatic shutdown was activated by the power system’s protection mechanisms as a safety measure to protect the integrity and stability of Ghana’s National Interconnected Transmission System (NITS).

According to GRIDCo, the protection mechanisms are designed to respond automatically to serious faults within the transmission network in order to prevent the disturbance from causing further instability across the national power system.

The Akosombo–Volta transmission line is an important part of Ghana’s electricity transmission network. The fault on the line caused the national power system to experience a major disturbance shortly after 4:30 a.m.

As a result, the protection system automatically disconnected the Akosombo generating units and some thermal plants.

GRIDCo said this action subsequently led to a loss of power supply in affected areas.

The company stressed that the automatic tripping was part of the system’s protective response and was intended to safeguard the wider transmission network rather than allow the fault to compromise the stability of the national grid.

Immediately after the incident, GRIDCo engineers began working with other agencies within the power sector to contain the disturbance and restore electricity supply.

The affected transmission line was isolated, allowing technical teams to commence a safe and systematic restoration of the power system.

GRIDCo said power supply had already been restored to some affected areas by the time of its statement, while restoration work was continuing to reconnect customers who remained without electricity.

The company said the restoration process was being undertaken carefully to ensure that electricity supply could be returned without compromising the stability and safety of the national grid.

“Power supply has already been restored to some affected areas,” GRIDCo stated, adding that restoration efforts were progressing steadily to restore supply to all remaining affected customers as quickly and safely as possible.

GRIDCo assured the public that all relevant technical teams had been fully mobilised to deal with the situation.

The company said its engineers were working with urgency to achieve complete restoration of the power system and reconnect all customers affected by the disturbance.

It also said it would continue monitoring the system while restoration activities progressed.

The transmission company expressed regret over the inconvenience caused by the temporary outage.

GRIDCo acknowledged the disruption the loss of electricity could cause to households, businesses and other electricity users and appealed to the public for patience, understanding and cooperation while engineers worked to restore normal supply.

The company further assured the public that updates would be provided as additional information became available.

Thursday’s incident is significant because it comes less than a month after another major disturbance on Ghana’s national power system.

On July 29, 2026, Ghana also experienced a widespread power outage after a system disturbance affected the National Interconnected Transmission System. That incident occurred at about 3:11 a.m. and resulted in electricity interruptions across several parts of the country.

The recurrence of major power disruptions within a short period has renewed public attention on the reliability and stability of Ghana’s power transmission system.

However, in Thursday’s incident, GRIDCo has specifically identified the fault on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line as the immediate cause of the latest system disturbance.

GRIDCo has not indicated that the latest disruption is a planned nationwide outage. Rather, it described the incident as a major fault that triggered the automatic operation of the national power system’s protection mechanisms.

The company’s immediate priority is therefore to restore supply in stages while ensuring the transmission network remains stable.

Some affected customers have already been reconnected, while others were still awaiting restoration as engineers continued their work.

GRIDCo said it would provide further updates as restoration efforts progress.

The company also urged the public to remain patient and cooperate with the relevant power sector agencies until full restoration is achieved.

The statement was issued by the Corporate Communications Section of Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) on Thursday, August 20, 2026.

GRIDCo said the national power system experienced a major fault at approximately 4:30 a.m. on the Akosombo–Volta transmission line.

It explained that the resulting automatic tripping of the Akosombo generating units and some thermal generating plants was part of the system’s protection mechanisms aimed at safeguarding the integrity and stability of the National Interconnected Transmission System.

The company said its engineers immediately worked with other power sector agencies to isolate the affected transmission line and commence safe and systematic restoration.

GRIDCo confirmed that supply had already been restored to some affected areas and that efforts were continuing to restore power to all remaining affected customers.

The company apologised for the inconvenience and assured the public that its technical teams had been fully mobilised and were working urgently towards complete restoration.

It concluded by assuring the public that further updates would be issued as more information became available and thanked customers for their patience, understanding and cooperation.

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has maintained that the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) must account for a reported GH¢22 billion financial loss linked to the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme (DGPP) in 2025.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, and signed by Minority Leader Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Caucus said GoldBod Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi’s response to concerns raised over the programme had not adequately addressed the financial issues at stake.

The Minority’s statement followed a press conference it held on Tuesday, August 18, on the financial and operational performance of GoldBod and reported losses associated with the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

The Caucus said its assessment was based on the International Monetary Fund’s findings on the programme. The IMF’s 2026 report discusses the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and GoldBod’s evolving role in Ghana’s gold sector.

The Minority argued that Mr Gyamfi had not disputed the IMF’s reported finding of a US$1.7 billion loss under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in 2025.

“First, the loss is admitted,” the statement said, adding that the Chief Executive had not disputed the IMF’s finding but had instead sought to determine which institution or officials should be blamed.

According to the Caucus, regardless of which state institution’s balance sheet carries the loss, the financial impact ultimately concerns public funds.

The Minority therefore insisted that the reported loss, estimated at approximately GH¢22 billion, must be properly accounted for.

The Caucus also challenged GoldBod’s explanation of the fees it earned from the programme.

According to the statement, Mr Gyamfi indicated that GoldBod accounted for approximately GH¢133 billion in advances in 2025 and received an assay fee of 0.25 per cent and a service fee of 0.5 per cent.

Based on those figures, the Minority calculated that GoldBod earned about GH¢1 billion in fees from the programme.

The Caucus contrasted that figure with GoldBod’s reported operational surplus of approximately GH¢907 million.

It argued that once the agency fees collected from the programme are separated from GoldBod’s other operations, there would be little or no operational surplus attributable to the programme itself.

“The plain implication of his own numbers is that the operational surplus he is celebrating is smaller than the fee income he collected from a programme that lost the state 22 billion Ghana Cedis,” the statement said.

The Minority consequently called on the GoldBod CEO to provide a clearer explanation of the relationship between the fees earned and the reported financial loss.

The Caucus further accused Mr Gyamfi of taking credit for positive economic developments while distancing GoldBod from the reported downside associated with the programme.

It pointed to improvements in Ghana’s debt-to-GDP position, the increase in international reserves from about US$8.9 billion to US$11.3 billion, and the decline in inflation.

The Minority said GoldBod had been “foremost in taking public credit” for some of these outcomes.

It argued that an institution that claims responsibility for the benefits associated with a policy should also be prepared to accept responsibility for costs arising from the same policy.

The Minority also raised concerns about what it described as shifting arrangements for financing the Ghana Reserves Accumulation and National Assets Protection (GANRAP) programme.

According to the statement, Mr Gyamfi indicated that responsibility for the implementation cost of GANRAP moved from the Bank of Ghana to the Ministry of Finance in July 2026.

The Caucus said GoldBod was subsequently seeking to raise funds independently from August 2026.

It described the movement between three different funding arrangements within six months as evidence that the financing model had not yet been settled.

“Three funding arrangements in six months is not a settled model,” the Minority stated.

The IMF has previously noted that GoldBod’s operational model was significantly expanded from April 2026, with the institution taking over the Bank of Ghana’s role in the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and handling financing, purchasing, assaying and exporting artisanal gold. From July 1, 2026, the government was to cover operating costs related to gold purchases, with costs subject to a 5 per cent ceiling of the overall cost of gold purchased.

The Minority concluded that the reported GH¢22 billion loss, which it said was contained in the IMF’s Sixth Country Report, must be accounted for.

The Caucus specifically referenced IMF Country Report No. 26/213, issued in August 2026, and maintained that the reported amount represented a financial loss to the Republic of Ghana.

The statement said the issue should not be dismissed simply because the loss appeared on the books of another state institution.

The IMF’s July 2026 assessment confirms that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme had created a temporary breach of a Bank of Ghana performance criterion because of cost-sharing arrangements, while also noting Ghana’s broader improvements in reserves and macroeconomic stability.

The Minority Leader also criticised the tone adopted by the GoldBod CEO during his response to the Minority’s allegations.

Mr Gyamfi had reportedly used a reference to a “brothel” while dismissing the Minority’s criticisms during the Government Accountability Series.

Mr Afenyo-Markin described the remark as inappropriate for a public official responding to questions about the management of public funds.

“The Chief Executive’s reference to a brothel does not belong in a statement issued by a Public Officer accounting for public funds,” the Minority Leader said.

He added that Ghanaians were demanding financial figures and explanations rather than insults.

“Ghanaians asked for figures. They were given insults. The figures are still outstanding,” he stated.

The dispute comes amid competing interpretations of the financial figures. While the Minority has focused on the reported US$1.7 billion loss associated with the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, the Institute of Fiscal Policy Governance has argued that GoldBod’s own audited accounts show a GH¢5.44 billion surplus for 2025 rather than a GH¢22 billion loss.

The controversy therefore centres partly on whether the reported losses under the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme should be treated as losses incurred by GoldBod itself or as financial consequences of a programme implemented through GoldBod on behalf of the central bank.

The Minority, however, maintains that GoldBod cannot distance itself from the financial consequences of transactions it operationally managed and is demanding full accountability for the reported loss.

Razak Kojo Opoku (PhD) has offered an assessment of Ghana’s gold trading regime, arguing that the reported US$1.7 billion loss associated with GoldBod should not be viewed simply as a direct financial loss to the state.

He said the figure, as cited from the IMF report, largely reflects policy-related accounting costs, quasi-fiscal costs, trading shortfalls and transaction-related costs, including exchange-rate effects, service and assay fees, and discounts on gold sold to off-takers.

Opoku argued that it would therefore be unfair to blame GoldBod alone for the entire US$1.7 billion figure, stressing that the Bank of Ghana also forms part of the accounting and policy framework surrounding the reported cost.

He further contrasted the figure with the estimated US$11.4 billion Ghana lost to gold smuggling between 2019 and 2024, arguing that gold smuggling poses a much greater long-term threat to the country’s economy.

According to Opoku, the key issue is not merely whether GoldBod incurred costs, but whether the institution’s operations are achieving their broader objectives of increasing Ghana’s foreign-exchange reserves, supporting the stability of the cedi and reducing gold smuggling.

He also raised questions about GoldBod’s relationship with illegal mining, asking what measures have been implemented to prevent the institution from purchasing gold linked to galamsey activities and how much gold smuggling has actually been reduced since the introduction of the GoldBod system.

Opoku also compared GoldBod with the previous Gold-for-Oil (G4O) and Gold-for-Reserves (G4R) programmes, noting the reported financial losses associated with those initiatives and questioning whether they achieved their intended objectives.

He concluded that Ghana should not assess GoldBod solely on the basis of the reported US$1.7 billion cost, but should instead examine the full economic benefits, foreign-exchange gains, reduction in gold smuggling and overall value delivered to the country.

“The ultimate question is whether Ghana has the most efficient gold-trading policy capable of maximising national benefits while minimising financial, accounting and economic costs,” Opoku’s assessment argues.

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has dismissed what he describes as continuing attacks by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, saying they will not distract the institution from its mandate.

Mr Gyamfi characterised the allegations against GoldBod as part of a “desperate smear campaign” driven by what he described as political blackmail and the deliberate recycling of claims without sufficient evidence.

Speaking at Government Accountability Series, he said the Ghanaian public deserved serious discourse based on facts, evidence and truth rather than repeated allegations intended to create a false impression.

“The Ghanaian people deserve serious public discourse founded on facts, evidence, truth, and not endless recycling of fossils in the hope that repetition will lend credibility and turn fiction to facts,” he said.

Mr Gyamfi further accused his critics of using what he described as “sophistry and political blackmail” in pursuit of selfish interests.

He maintained that GoldBod would continue to account transparently for its activities and stewardship, insisting that the institution would remain focused on creating value for Ghanaians from the country’s gold resources.

“GoldBod will remain focused on its mandate. We will continue to account transparently for our stewardship, and we will not be distracted from the important work of creating value for the Ghanaian people from the exploitation of the gold resources of our beloved nation,” he stated.

His comments come amid an ongoing political and public debate over the management of Ghana’s gold resources and allegations surrounding the operations and financial performance of the GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

The Ghana GoldBoard has accused Alexander Afenyo-Markin and his associates of mounting what it describes as a deliberate campaign to damage the institution’s reputation.

GoldBod CEO Sammy Gyamfi said the allegations being made against the institution were not based on a genuine attempt to promote accountability.

He described the repeated claims about GoldBod’s financial performance as part of what he called a calculated smear campaign.

Mr Gyamfi argued that GoldBod’s contribution to Ghana’s economic transformation had become difficult for its critics to reconcile with their claims about the institution’s performance.

He pointed to the appreciation of the Ghana cedi and the strengthening of Ghana’s international reserves as indicators of the wider economic impact of the gold purchasing programme.

The GoldBod CEO insisted that the institution had nothing to hide and remained willing to appear before Parliament to answer questions about its finances and operations.

He called for public debate on GoldBod to be based on evidence, audited records and verifiable facts rather than repeated allegations.