by Nurat Uthman
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.
In his resignation letter on Friday, Sesay said he took full responsibility for the crisis. The office of the President Julius Maada Bio later announced that the energy ministry would fall under the direct supervision of the president.
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 spokesman 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.
