Manya Krobo Paramount Chief worried about darkness occasioned by ECG-residents’ impasse
The Paramount Chief of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sakite, says the darkness residents are experiencing for the past 12 days is unacceptable.
He expressed worry livelihoods are being lost while essential service providers struggle to store drugs and vaccines.
Addressing a section of the media at his Palace over the weekend, Nene Sakite said: “For the past couple of weeks, we have been in the dark. It had been bothering me. My children are losing their livelihoods. Artisans, cold store operators, tailors and even our hospitals. Although we are all feeling the pain, this is their livelihoods. The hospital drugs are being messed up, it’s a big problem.”
Nene Sakite cautioned residents to desist from threatening staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and pelting stones at them.
“One of the reasons why we are in the dark is that even if ECG make up their mind to give us light and they go round to test the transformers, some people at Manya Kpongunor threatened them with stones and verbal threats. We can’t be doing so as a people. If you do that to them, what do you expect of them?
“We should try not to be intimidating people who come to fix the light for us. I don’t want to hear people inciting people. That’s a threat to our democracy and it has to stop.”
He pointed out the recent cutting of a power pole was unacceptable.
“Stop cutting them.”
The Paramount Chief assured talks were ongoing to get the lights back and called for calm heads.
“We have been over-billed. We talked to them about it. They went back and tell us that there has been a faulty software giving us the over-billing, they are fixing it. They said anyone with a questionable statement should come to them. That issue is being solved, we would get to then bottom of it.”
He added: “What I want to tell my people is that ECG says they have prepaid. They won’t come to houses to read metres anymore. So that just like phones, you buy credit and use. And I think that’s much better and we have to embrace that.”
The ECG staff have cut of electricity to the area to demand safety for their workers.
Several road map decisions for an amicable end to the impasse hangs as both the ECG and residents take entrenched positions.
The ECG in a press statement asked residents to pay old bills from 2018 in a space of five years whiles ringfencing bills from 2014.
The installation of prepaid meters has been successful in the Yilo Krobo Municipality, but some residents in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality are resisting the exercise for fear of being deducted old bills they are still contesting.
source:3news
