Ghana’s southern electricity distribution company, ECG, has closed down its district office in Somanya which serves residents of Manya and Yilo Krobo Municipalities in the eastern part of the West African nation.
The decision follows recent agitations by the youth group in the area and threats to the lives of the staff of ECG.
ECG explained that the decision was arrived at to protect the lives of its staff since they are being threatened by the youth in the area.
According to ECG, a new district office at Juapong will serve residents of Yilo and Manya Krobo Municipalities.
It would be recalled that on Monday, November 22, 2021, over 7000 residents in Manya and Yilo Krobo Municipalities hit the streets to protest against the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
The protesters, who were clad in red attire, marched through the principal streets to demand an immediate cessation of electricity supply from ECG to the areas.
The protesters rather wanted the country’s largest state power generation company, VRA, to supply electricity to their areas, as according to them, ECG has been unfair in dealing with them.
They claim their ancestors were promised free electricity during the construction of the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam.
However, they have not to be able to substantiate their claim when challenged by both the power generation companies, Volta River Authority and Electricity Company of Ghana.
Addressing a press conference in Tema on Monday, December 6, 2021, the Tema General Manager for ECG, Ing. Emmanuel Akinie accused the youth groups of bad faith since there has been extensive engagement to resolve issues regarding electricity bills.
“After all these efforts and final resolution of the impasse as evidenced by the preparation and signing of the report, the youth groups continued organizing town meetings and inciting the public against payment of electricity bills,” Ing Akini stated.
He said management cannot risk the lives of any of their hardworking staff in such an unsafe environment.
“Owing to the very serious security threats against the ECG staff in parts of Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo municipalities, reliability of power supply in that enclave will be dependent on the availability of full police escort for ECG’s engineers to attend to power supply challenges.”
He said ECG would continue to provide quality, safe and reliable electricity services to the other parts of the ECG district where the security of staff and installations are guaranteed.
He said ECG has officially requested the Inspector General of Police and all National Security agencies to provide adequate security for all staff of ECG and all of ECG’s installations and facilities within the affected enclave.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com