26/04/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMRADE ISAAC KWAME NGULA BATUN COMMENDS ENERGY MINISTER’S SWIFT PROBE INTO AKOSOMBO INCIDENT AND CALLS FOR COORDINATED CYBERSECURITY AND INTERNAL SECURITY REFORMS TO PROTECT GHANA’S ENERGY FUTURE
Accra, Ghana | April 26, 2026
Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun today commends the Hon. John Abdulai Jinapor, Minister for Energy and Green Transition, for his prompt and decisive response to the fire outbreak at the GRIDCo substation at Akosombo on Thursday, April 23, 2026. The Minister’s decision to establish a seven-member committee to investigate the incident is a strong and responsible step that reflects the seriousness with which the government must treat threats to national power infrastructure. Public reporting indicates that the fire disrupted operations at a critical electricity transmission facility, while the Ghana National Fire Service mounted a coordinated response to contain the blaze.
This intervention deserves broad public support. Ghana’s energy infrastructure is too important to be treated as routine. When a major substation is compromised, the consequences extend far beyond technical inconvenience. They affect households, commerce, investor confidence, industrial output, and national productivity. For that reason, the current inquiry must not end as a narrow incident review; it should become the foundation for a broader reform agenda aimed at strengthening resilience, accountability, and operational security across the energy sector.
From a cybersecurity and systems-governance standpoint, Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun respectfully submits that the committee’s work should be anchored in the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038). Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority states that Critical Information Infrastructure includes systems whose incapacity or destruction would have a devastating impact on national security and the economic and social well-being of citizens. The Authority further notes that Sections 35 to 40 of Act 1038 provide for the protection, designation, management, and compliance auditing of such infrastructure, and that Energy is one of Ghana’s designated Critical Information Infrastructure sectors.
In light of that framework, this incident should be approached not only as a fire event or operational failure, but as a critical infrastructure protection issue requiring a cyber-physical response. Ghana must therefore move from reactive recovery to preventive resilience. That means strengthening asset protection, access controls, incident detection, emergency response systems, operational oversight, and inter-agency coordination at all major energy installations nationwide.
Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun further calls for the Ministry of the Interior to be formally integrated into the national response architecture that emerges from this investigation. This is both appropriate and necessary. The Ministry of the Interior states that it is mandated to ensure internal security and the maintenance of law and order, while the Ghana National Fire Service operates under the strategic objectives of that mother ministry. In the context of critical energy infrastructure, the Interior Ministry’s role should therefore include support for site protection, emergency preparedness, coordinated rapid response, and stronger internal-security protocols around nationally strategic installations.
Accordingly, Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun respectfully urges the seven-member committee to recommend the following measures:
First, a full determination of the immediate and underlying causes of the Akosombo incident, including any weaknesses in maintenance controls, physical safeguards, access management, contractor supervision, escalation procedures, and emergency readiness.
Second, a national cyber-physical security audit of substations, transmission facilities, and other critical energy installations to identify systemic vulnerabilities and assign clear corrective timelines.
Third, a permanent inter-ministerial and inter-agency coordination framework involving the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition, the Ministry of the Interior, GRIDCo, the Cyber Security Authority, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Police Service, and other relevant national security and emergency-response bodies, so that prevention, response, recovery, and public communication are seamlessly aligned.
Fourth, stronger insider-risk and personnel integrity controls at critical infrastructure sites, including tighter vetting, role-based access, monitoring of sensitive operational environments, and periodic compliance checks.
Fifth, a structured programme for building the next generation of qualified Ghanaian technical and security personnel to support the protection of critical national infrastructure through merit, discipline, professional certification, and patriotic public service.
Sixth, a transparent post-incident accountability process that ensures lessons are documented, implemented, and reviewed over time so that the nation is not repeatedly forced to learn the same painful lessons from preventable disruptions.
Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun believes this is the right moment for Ghana to modernize its philosophy of infrastructure protection. Energy resilience in the twenty-first century cannot be pursued through engineering alone. It must also be driven by sound governance, emergency preparedness, cybersecurity compliance, and institutional coordination. A secure energy future will depend on how effectively the country integrates these elements into one national framework.
He further urges all stakeholders, including policymakers, technical operators, security institutions, emergency services, and the wider public, to support reforms that place national interest above complacency. The objective should not merely be to assign fault. The objective must be to secure the grid, protect strategic assets, restore public confidence, and ensure that Ghana’s power infrastructure is resilient enough to withstand both physical and digital threats.
“This must be a turning point for Ghana,” Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun said. “We must treat our energy infrastructure as a strategic national asset requiring the highest standards of protection, coordination, and accountability. The lessons from Akosombo must lead to reform, not routine.”
Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun reaffirms his confidence in the Minister’s leadership and encourages all patriotic Ghanaians, especially the youth, to rally behind reforms that strengthen state institutions, protect critical infrastructure, and secure a safer and more reliable energy future for the Republic.
Issued by:
Comrade Isaac Kwame Ngula Batun
Youth Activist | Cybersecurity Professional | Information Systems Analyst | Member of the ICT, Innovation, Digitalization, and Communication Committee of the NDC 2024 manifesto
