Starrfm.com.gh reported yesterday that Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, had confirmed that he filed a complaint with the police against the General Manager of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti Region. The complaint was made in response to the disconnection of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) from the national grid, due to an outstanding debt of GH₵1.2 million.
The news outlet quoted the Minister as saying that he had previously informed the ECG Ashanti Region that they should notify him before carrying out any disconnection in public universities. However, he was not informed about the disconnection at KTU, which led to his complaint.
The Regional Minister’s complaint resulted in the ECG General Manager being detained by the police and asked to write an official statement before being granted self-recognisance bail. He was told that he was being investigated for causing public unrest.
First of all, if it is true that the regional minister indeed reported the ECG regional Manager to the police for disconnecting power to a public university that was owing, then we are surprised that the police also went ahead to arrest the man.
As a result of inadequate cash flow, management of the ECG has descended on almost all institutions – both public and private- including public universities, to collect the bills they owe them. In so doing, most of these companies and institutions were taken off the national grid. Indeed, the decision has resulted in the ECG collecting substantial debts from these corporate bodies.
We should not gloss over the fact that the ECG is the largest off-taker of power produced by the Volta River Authority and the independent power producers in the country. If these power producers are crying for funds, it simply means ECG is not collecting the money based on the power it has sold to consumers.
The aggressive manner they are collecting these debts, we must admit, is a bother to businesses in the country that are already struggling to survive. But at the same time, it is a necessary evil if we are to keep the power producers in business. Undeniably, just last month, a whole Parliament of Ghana was disconnected from the national grid over the non-payment of its huge bills.
Prior to that, Accra Academy, a second cycle institution in Accra was also disconnected for the non-payment of bills. There are hundreds of corporate bodies and institutions that have suffered dearly from ECG’s actions. But in all these situations, we did not hear that a minister had caused the arrest of the ECG Managing Director because he failed to inform him or her before taking off the power.
Even Parliament, which is an arm of government and where laws are enacted, did not threaten EGC when it was disconnected. It rather quickly mobilised funds to pay its debts before power was restored.
It is upon the basis of this that The Chronicle is shocked that a regional minister can order the arrest of ECG regional manager for doing his job. The ECG manager does not report to the Ashanti Regional Minister. So on what basis did he instruct the ECG official to report to him first, before taking any public university off the national grid?
Even if the minister has the backing of the law, the best thing to do was to have reported the said manager to his boss in Accra, for internal action to be instituted against him. But this did not happen, as he rather chose to report him to the police because he wields political power. Surprisingly, the police also went and arrested the poor regional manager on allegation of causing public unrest.
Disconnecting power to a whole Parliament House would have been the greatest public unrest, but the police did not arrest the Greater Accra Regional Manager of the ECG for taking off the power?
Anyway, if Simon Osei Mensah has the money to pay, the reason he allegedly instructed the ECG to report to him first before disconnecting power to public universities, why didn’t he quickly mobilise the money to pay when KsTU was disconnected, but rather chose the path of causing arrest?
What politicians should know is that the power in their hands is transient. They must, therefore, be careful about the way they exercise these powers. The Minister’s conduct is simply unlawful and we expect President Akufo-Addo to reprimand him.
