KARPOWERSHIP EXPOSES SLPP’S LIES
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
Solution to Sierra Leone’s energy crisis remains albatross around the necks of authorities, year in year out. But the situation has exacerbated, and become ugly and malicious under President Julius Maada Bio-led Sierra Leone People’s Party – SLPP – regime known as “New Direction” with the catchphrase “Paopa Salone 4 Betteh”, especially during its second tenure.
The Karpowership has been one of, if not the major source of electricity for Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown, since the Bio administration came to being. But amid its erratic electricity supply, sometimes endemic outages, it suddenly announced a resolve to disconnect its supply plugs last midnight of 12 June 2025 for failure by the government to honour its financial obligations to enable the ship to cover its fuel costs.
Management of Karpowership says for more than two years now, the Sierra Leone government has not just paid its capacity fees for the Powership, but it has not received payment for the supply of fuel for the last six months.
Though it is committed to supporting Sierra Leone with reliable electricity, the double default payments have unleashed an unsuitable burden on the Karpowership management that it can no longer sustain finance and energy needs without urgent payment intervention from the government. As a result, it would inevitably scale down the supply from 50 to 6 megawatts for the benefit of critical infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water pumps.
“Even now, Karpowership does not want to cut electricity since it would impact critical infrastructures,” the Ship’s press release maintains, but states that it would continue to prioritize essential services despite the financial constraints.
The press release reveals how high-level discussions were held between senior government officials and Karpowership representatives in Istanbul in January this year, to address the growing debt, noting that a payment plan was mutually agreed upon and endorsed by the Minister of Finance, the Chairman of the Energy Sector, and the Director General of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA).
But Karpowership says even so, the plan was not honored, and all subsequent assurances by the government have failed to yield positive dividends, prompting the power company to issue a suspension notice on 28 May 2025, requesting an immediate payment of 30% of the outstanding arrears.
“We fully understand the financial challenges currently facing the Government of Sierra Leone and have consistently sought ways to help mitigate the impact. But the prolonged delay in payments has reached a point where we can no longer meet our obligations to suppliers—particularly fuel providers,” the press release states, adding, “We remain hopeful that this situation can be resolved promptly and are committed to working closely with the Government of Sierra Leone to find a sustainable path forward.”
The Bio government inherited an energy sector on a good footing. The Turkish Karpowership was even allowed to float the shores near Freetown not to become the main power source for Sierra Leoneans, as no existing contract was signed then, but as a standby powerhouse to supply electricity in the dries when the Bumbuna Dam turbines would always become low without the strength of current to produce the required supply.
There’s no denying the fact that EDSA had already agreed to contract the Karpowership at the time, but the Ernest Bai Koroma-led APC government, through its Minister of Energy and Power could not give the greenlight for the foreign powerhouse to operate.
However, when the Bio Paopa government took over the affairs of the nation, they heckled the outgoing APC regime, nitpicking its relationship with the Karpowership.
Subsequently, some government officials were all over the place hyping about how the new government of Bio had completed a strategic negotiation with the Karpowership after “reviewing” its contract with the APC. They lambasted a contract that never existed as not cost effective, whilst lauding theirs as the cheapest and most lucrative ever in the annals of the country.
Meanwhile, the notice by the Karpowership has left shockwaves to stream down the poor Sierra Leoneans’ human systems. The government has failed to pay the 30 percent requested for by the company even as the electricity demand among Sierra Leoneans has been high. Also, majority of the consumers no longer use post-paid meters, but the pre-paid ones. And amid the serial increment of more than 300 percent in electricity tariffs having been effectuated so far by the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA), the demand remains effective among consumers, who have been paying for electricity service before accessing it. Therefore, why EDSA has always had problem paying the service provider, Karpowership, is the question begging for a direct answer.
An opposition stalwart has described the sudden energy situation as “damning symbol of the SLPP Bio’s government catastrophic failure in managing Sierra Leone’s energy sector, noting, “This predictable crisis exposes profound dereliction of duty, financial mismanagement and a reckless disregard for the basic needs of citizens and the functioning of the economy.”