Sierra Leone‘s Energy Minister, Kanja Sesay resigned on Friday over a weeks-long electricity crisis, the same day the government announced it had paid some of the tens of millions of dollars it owed to energy providers.
Recall that since mid-April, Freetown and the cities of Bo, Kenema and Koidu have experienced multi-day stretches without electricity.
In an email to Reuters on April 19, Karpowership said it was owed $48 million and had scaled down supplies to six megawatts from 60 megawatts.
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Sesay in his resignation letter on Friday, however said that he took full responsibility for the crisis.
Shortly after Sesay’s resignation, the government said in a statement that it had paid $17 million of the $48 million owed to Turkey’s Karpowership, which provides electricity to the capital Freetown.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed the payment to Reuters and said full electricity supplies had been restored to the capital.
“We are pleased to confirm that the power supply at full capacity to Sierra Leone has been restored,” the company said in a statement.
