The Senior and Junior Staff Unions of the four region of the Electricity Company of Ghana in Ashanti Region have registered their displeasure against the Ashanti Regional Minister for what they described as “unfair treatment against their General Manager.”
Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, was said to have reported the General Manager, Ashanti East, Mark Wiafe Asumani, over a disconnection of power supply to the Kumasi Technical University.
It was a special exercise by the ECG in some parts of the Ashanti Region, and the directive by the minister not to disconnect the institution was ignored.
The Manager reported himself to the Zongo Police Station and was made to write his statement, after which he was granted self-recognizance bail.
In a statement, the Unions demanded “an unqualified apology” from the Regional Minister to the General Manager in particular and the entire ECG.
They have also asked for the withdrawal of the case from the police station by close of Tuesday, April 23,”Else the entire ECG of Ashanti Region, as a first step in registering our displeasure, will hoist red flags and be in red on Wednesday, April, 24.”
They stated that “ECG does not report to the Regional Minister and does not take instructions from him on all of its activities including Revenue Mobilization/Collection”.
The statement appealed 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 State Dollars. Failure to pay bills will mean failure to get money to buy gas and crude oil to power the thermal plants to generate power for supply;
“We want to urge the public to disregard the Regional Minister’s action and pay their electricity bills on time to ensure smooth and constant supply of power”, it said.
According to the statement “we want to let the Regional Minister know that, the staff of ECG are very much disappointed in his actions, and we want to make it clear to the political authorities in Ashanti that ECG reserves the right to disconnect any institution or individual for non-payment of bills or power consumed without taking instructions from persons out the ECG”.
FROM KINGSLEY E HOPE, KUMASI
