Akon Claims He Could Have Restored Power in Puerto Rico Months Ago

His efforts to bring power back to Puerto Rico were rejected by the government.

February 24, 2018

Akon claims that his organization Akon Lighting Africa could have restored power to Puerto Rico within 30 days after the disastrous Hurricane Maria devastated the island, TMZ reported. But the government turned down his plan.

“We actually presented a program for Puerto Rico and we got rejected. We had the solution for Puerto Rico, clearly. We would have power up in less than 30 days, and they rejected us. It’s politics, propaganda, and special interests. They didn’t care about the people—if that was the case, they would have allowed us to go in and provide the solution. But I think it was bigger than numbers at that point,” Akon told TMZ.

According to the US Department of Energy, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority reported that, “84.6% of normal peak load and 85.64% of customers (1,261,513) have been restored and all 78 municipalities are at least partially energized.” Maria struck the country in September 2017, but electricity has yet to be fully restored. Many criticized Trump for his response to the humanitarian crisis, which included blaming Puerto Rico's slow recovery on "poor leadership."

When asked his opinion on Trump referring to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries,” Akon said, “With [Trump], you just never know. It’s hard because he’s the kind of person you really can’t answer for easy. Only [he] can answer questions like that, but I know the average person is baffled by a lot of those comments.”

Akon’s organization has ongoing projects in Mali, Senegal, Namibia, Madagascar, Tanzania, and more.