Guinea Electricity Chief Fired After Power Outage Sparks Protests

Guinean authorities sacked the country’s national electricity company’s boss and his deputies on Saturday, March 16, 2024, as an interminable power outage triggered widespread protests.

General Mamady Doumbouya, Guinean junker chief, fired Laye Sekou Camara of Electricity in Guinea (EDG) and his two deputies, Fode Soumah and Abdoulaye Kone, by decree on Saturday.

Earlier on Friday, Guinea national oil company’s managing director and his deputy were sacked in connection to the blackout in the country.

“Those responsible for this situation (linked to the power cuts) owe us an explanation, Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah said in a press briefing, “and everyone must take their share of responsibility.”

EDG attributed the power outage to “an incident on a high-voltage pylon.”

The dismissal of top-ranking officials in the Guinean power sector follows protests resulting from a power outage that plunged the country’s capital, Conakry, into darkness.

Two children were killed amid violent protests in Kindia on Tuesday, eliciting Mr Doumbouya to reign in officials in the power sector.

This comes in the same week Nigeria’s Power Minister Bayo Adelabu listed Guinea among the poor countries where citizens pay more electricity bills than Nigerians while pushing for subsidy removal.

Mr Adelabu has been adjudged Nigeria’s worst minister of power due to the country’s poor electricity supply.