The Ashanti regional Senior and Junior Staff Unions of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have threatened to demonstrate against the Ashanti regional minister, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, over the arrest of the General Manager of ECG Ashanti East, Ing. Mark Wiafe. The minister ordered the arrest, following the disconnection of power supply to the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU).
“We want the Ashanti regional minister to know that we the staff of ECG are very disappointed in his actions”, they noted in joint press statement issued in Kumasi over the weekend.
“We want the Regional Minister to know that ECG does not report to him and does not take instructions from him on all of its activities, including Revenue Mobilisation/Collection.
“We want to make it clear to the political authorities in Ashanti region that ECG reserves the right to disconnect any institution or individual for non-payment of bills or power consumed without taking instructions from any person outside the ECG”, the statement said.
They have subsequently asked Simon Osei-Mensah to render an unqualified apology to Ing Mark Wiafe and the entire ECG staff and discontinue the case at the Zongo Police Station.
“We demand an unqualified apology from the Ashanti Regional Minister to the General Manager in particular and the entire ECG and withdrawal of the case from the police station by close of day, Tuesday, 23rd April, 2024 else the entire ECG Ashanti Region, as first step in registering our displeasure, will HOIST RED FLAGS and be in red on Wednesday, 24th April, 2024.”
The Ashanti regional branch of the power distribution company urges the corporate institutions among others to disregard Osei-Mensah and be law abiding citizens by paying their electricity bills promptly, since the cost of producing power is expensive.
“We want to appeal to all state Institutions, Departments and Agencies within the Ashanti region to pay their Electricity bills. This is because the National Grid relies more on Gas and Crude Oil to generate power for supply and these are paid for with United States Dollars. Failure to pay the bills will mean failure to get money to buy gas and crude oil to power the thermal plants to generate power for supply.”
