Thousands of residents of Somanya, Odumase-Krobo, Agormanya, Kpongunor, Kpong, and other Krobo communities in the Eastern Region on Friday, hit the streets to protest the ongoing deployment of prepaid meters and military men to the area to ensure the installation process.
The soldiers, deployed since June 14, 2022, are assisting the ECG with the installation of new prepaid meters following months of hostility between residents and the ECG over the payment of electricity bills.
The ECG has justified the use of military personnel during the exercise.
The company is currently installing 3000 meters during the first phase of the exercise as part of a larger target of 50,000 postpaid meters to be replaced with prepaid meters.
The military still remains actively engaged in the exercise despite the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, directing the Defence Minister to immediately withdraw them.
The order followed a statement made on the floor by the Member of Parliament for the area, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi on Friday, June 24, that the presence of the military men is heightening tensions in the community.
Led by some divisional chiefs of the area, the demonstrators clad in red apparel, wielding placards, and chanting the Nadu songs, demanded an immediate halt in the ongoing exercise and the immediate withdrawal of the soldiers from the community.
The 15km walk began from the Akutunya lorry station at Somanya around 8 am with the protestors ending up at the Kpong main lorry station at 1 pm where the PRO of the divisional chiefs on behalf of the chiefs, read out a petition.
The petition was signed by the Divisional Chief of Piengua, Nene Tetteh Zogli III, Nene Bediako Baah Mualla III, Divisional Chief of Dorm, Nene Olepeme Sakinor Nanor I, Chief of Suisi-Okwenya, and John Baah, secretary to the chiefs.
Delivering the petition to the demonstrators, Nene Olepeme Sakinor Nanor I called for the immediate withdrawal of the military men undertaking the installation of the meters, arguing that the presence of the soldiers was intimidating the public.
“The presence of armed military men in Kroboland is intimidating hence they should be withdrawn immediately because Krobos are living in fear and in discomfort,” the petition read.
Accusing the ECG of using the installation of the meters as a ploy to run away from the financial malfeasance in the overbilling saga, the chiefs demanded the setting up of a committee of inquiry to investigate the financial saga in the overbilling and the immediate replacement of prepaid meters with the post-paid meters.
Further, the chiefs called for the cancellation of all accrued debts between 2014 and July 2022 and thereafter resume post-paid billing from the following month after showing evidence of correcting the anomalies in the billing system.
Divisional Chief of Piengua, Nene Tetteh Zogli III, threatened that the soldiers will be confronted with the Nadu (war chants) should they be sited anywhere in the community installing the prepaid meters. “From tomorrow, anywhere soldiers will come with the intention of fixing prepaid meters, they’ll be confronted with the Nadu,” he noted.
According to him, Krobos have made it unambiguously clear that they do not want the prepaid meters. “We do not want it today and we do not want it tomorrow,” said the chief.
He dismissed the position of the ECG that the prepaid metering system is a government policy.
He said, “The prepaid metres are not something that must be brought to Kroboland. Some people say it’s a government policy, it’s not a government policy. The ECG has stolen from us over the years and they are resorting to this measure to reclaim their debt, they’re looking for ways to steal from us again.”
The Council of Churches and the Christian Leaders Council of the Krobo Area who joined the demonstration, also in a petition to President Akufo-Addo, described the installation exercise as “very dangerous, deadly, unlawful and illegal.”
Describing the deployment of the soldiers was unlawful and unfair, the group said Krobos were not at war and not ready for war. “We want to further establish that about 200 and over military men brought to Krobo area for the exercise of fixing prepaid meters are unlawful and unfair because we are not at war and not ready for war,” he stated.
To address the problem, the Council of Churches and the Christian Leaders Council urged the ECG to demand all accountabilities and return monies dubiously taken from its customers since 2007, relocate all illegally connected electrical poles, reverse any war idea or battle attitudes as well as hold further consultations with all stakeholders.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
