Sierra Leone Energy Minister Resigns Over Electricity Crisis

Sierra Leone has been facing a severe electricity crisis for the past few weeks, leading to the resignation of its Minister of Energy, Kanja Sesay.

Gatekeepers News reports that in his resignation letter, Sesay took full responsibility for the crisis.

As a result, the government has placed the energy ministry under the direct supervision of President Julius Maada Bio, who will be assisted by two other officials.

The electricity crisis came to an end after the government paid $18.5 million to two power providers, Turkish Karpowership and Transco-CLSG group. Sierra Leone owed the two producers $40 million.

Freetown and the cities of Bo, Kenema, and Koidu had been experiencing multi-day stretches without electricity since mid-April.

Karpowership confirmed the payment and has been supplying electricity to Sierra Leone since 2018 from a floating offshore unit.

However, it had reduced its capacity from 65 megawatts to just five in recent months due to payment issues. In September, it had cut supplies to Sierra Leone over unpaid bills.

It had also briefly cut power to Guinea-Bissau in October, citing a protracted period of non-payment as the reason.