Residents of Somanya in the Eastern Region, on Monday, poured onto the principal streets of the town to protest against what they described as ‘killer’ electricity bills.
Thousands of angry residents, clad in red attires to demonstrate their level of seriousness and anger, carried placards with inscriptions such as “VRA, where is our compensation,” and “We will not pay bills, ECG move from Krobo lands,” among others.
The demonstrators, who were led by United Krobo Foundation, a pressure group, marched through some principal streets in some of the areas of the Municipality as part of the protest.
Addressing the media after the three and a half hours demonstration, the Media Relations Officer for the Krobo Foundation, Mr. Nathan Boryor, indicated that the good people of Krobo States wanted to drum home the need to investigate the unsatisfactory services of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
According to him, the United Krobo Foundation, in 2017, complained about the irregularities of services rendered in the Krobo State by the ECG. “Among other matters raised in 2017 are the wrong accumulated bills, non-reading of meters for over a year, and workers of the institution not showing professionalism,” he recalled.
The United Krobo Foundation Media Relations Officer described the attempt by the ECG to force residents of Krobo to pay bills that were not caused or generated by them (residents) as cheating, and must be dealt with.
Mr. Nathan Boryor continued that in an effort to reach a compromise, United Krobo Foundation, Klomagbi, Kloma Hengmɛ, and some concerned citizens proposed to the ECG for them to resolve the problems within the Krobo area, but they did not listen to them.
According to him, the Krobo people had taken a decision that prepaid metering within the area must be stop immediately, and that the shooting incidents that occurred on 4th April and 23rd May 2019 must be investigated to their logical conclusions.
They further argued that the construction of the Akosombo and Kpong dams had been instrumental tools for Ghana’s development since independence, and that it would be proper that communities where these dams had been built should be taken good care of.
The residents of Krobo indicated that the Volta River Authority had not demonstrated any development projects in Krobo, and as such, United Krobo Foundation demands that power supply to the people of Krobo communities must solely be done by Volta River Authority and no other institution.
Finally, the United Krobo Foundation demands that two (2) renowned people from the Krobo States should be represented on the VRA board “to channel our grievance for solutions.”
