A joint securities committee of the Lower Manya Krobo and Yilo Krobo Municipal Assemblies has agreed to continue to provide security to the staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) as they embark on their official duties.
A communiqué signed by the MCEs for the two municipalities on Thursday, 9th December 2021 also assured to provide security at all ECG major installations in the area and therefore urged residents to remain calm as steps are been taken to resolve the matter.
The ECG office in the area has shut down its office and has relocated to Juapong after an impasse between residents and the power distribution company overbilling of electricity meters.
Relocation and Matters arising
ECG officially announced on Monday, December 6, 2021, that, owing to Safety concerns, it has shut down its District office in Somanya and has relocated to Juapong which is under Volta Region.
The new Office at Juapong will serve Yilo Krobo, Lower Manya, Asuogyaman, Okere, Ho West, North Tongue, and Shai Osudoku.
Addressing the media on the new decision, the Managing Director of ECG, Kwame Agyeman-Budu explained that, ECG has been very tolerant and extremely patient with customers of the Krobo district, and especially the United Krobo Foundation and customers within the Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo communities despite attacks and threats.
He said the issue of overbilling which triggered all these agitations by residents of the Krobo area to attack the ECG office was a challenge encountered between 2015 and 2016 across all ECG operational areas when the company was transferring customer data from the old CBIS to the new CMS software.
However, ECG took time for years up until 2017, to organize help desk clinics, and took each affected customer in the Krobo district through the ECG billing system, reconciled, and validates their bills.
“After the successful exercise, whilst some decided to pay their outstanding bills, this youth group (United Krobo Foundation and others) decided to prevent customers from paying, giving all manner of dubious reasons as already stated. This year, to bring a final resolution to the impasse, we decided to ring-fence all their debts up to 2017 so that they could pay from 2018 up to date on their negotiated terms”.
The Managing Director stated that “After numerous painstaking stakeholder engagements, when we thought the agreed roadmap has been accepted by all parties to end the misunderstanding, the youth groups demonstrated and threatened life and property of ECG, to the extent that ECG, and for that matter our staff, cannot undertake their legitimate business peacefully. It will be recalled that these same youth groups attacked our district office, our staff, a Police station close to our office including the burning of a Police pickup vehicle”
According to the MD of ECG, “This demonstrates that their recent threats which were captured on all media platforms, including the direct warning to ECG to vacate their Krobo land cannot be taken for granted. The continuous emotional and psychological torture of our staff in the Krobo district cannot be allowed to go on in perpetuity”
Therefore, “To protect the lives of our staff which we dare not compromise on, we henceforth will operate the district from Juapong office, and going forward, any faults intervention, or any call to correct any anomaly in the system within the Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo communities will be dependent on the availability of Police escort.
Indeed, it is with a heavy heart that we decided to support the position of the Tema region in protecting the precious lives of our employees. As a customer-oriented organization, we will never renege on our mandate to provide a safe, quality, and reliable power supply to all customers within our operational areas, thereby assisting in the socio-economic development of our country”.
The MD however explained that the doors of ECG are always opened, and when reason prevails, and the
Management of Tema region is convinced that the environment that we have left is safe and harmonious for us to directly operate in these communities, we will not hesitate to give them our approval”.
Background
Krobos in Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipalities in the Eastern region have been demanding direct power supply from Volta River Authority (VRA) instead of the Electricity Company of Ghana.
According to them, the Construction of Akosombo and Akuse Dams displaced their ancestors and deprived them of their livelihood but were not compensated therefore it is insensitive for VRA not to serve them with power as being done in other Communities in Asuogyaman District.
As a result, the United Krobo Foundation, a group championing this agenda over the years, recently organized a massive demonstration on Monday, November 22, 2021, against plans by the Electricity Company of Ghana, ECG, to introduce prepaid meters in Somanya, Odumase and its environs.
The group said residents in the Krobo area can no longer be under the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for power supply.
Convener of the group, Nathan Boryou told the media that, ECG must first scrap all outstanding arrears of customers created due to the issue of overbilling in the Krobo area.
The impasse between Krobos and ECG led to deadly clashes between residents and police resulting in the shooting of protestors which two died while at least five sustained gunshot wounds in May 2019. A female Junior High School student who was among the Victims had her leg amputated while a footballer has been paralyzed as a result of the injury.
United Krobo Foundation has warmed that, failure by the state to investigate and sanction culprits of the shooting incident will remain unpardonable agony among Krobos.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom/Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
