Come back to us – Krobo youth plead with ECG

A Krobo youth group, the Coalition of Krobo Youth (CKY) has appealed to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to reconsider its decision to relocate its operations to Juapong and restore power to the area.

The group expressing regret over recent developments which have led to a series of power outages in the area and a total block out since Monday disagreed with the position of the United Krobo Foundation (UKF), a pressure group, relating to the ECG.

Convener of the group, Frederick Narh Okley addressing the media during a presser in Somanya on Thursday assured the ECG of maximum security of 1000 men to protect them through its yet-to-be inaugurated watchdog committee to safely discharge their responsibilities to the people.

"We the youth are ever ready to provide the ECG staff, a 24-hour protection through our watchdog committees that will be launched very soon to safeguard and protect public properties,” the group said and accused the security agencies of failing to apprehend miscreants behind the recent incidents with the ECG.

According to them, it disagreed with certain demands of the UKF including dealing with the Volta River Authority (VRA) and not the ECG as well as an ultimatum given the ECG to vacate the area.

The CKY also disagreed with the position of the UKF against the intended introduction of prepaid meters in the area.

The ECG insists that the current blackout in the area is a result of activities of unscrupulous persons overloading some transformers which have destroyed several others within the communities leading to the shutting down of its feeder at the bulk supply point directly feeding the communities in order to protect its network, lives and property.

But the CKY, however, maintains the suspicions of many residents that the action is deliberate following the ECG’s donation of three power plants to two major hospitals in the area – the St. Martin’s De Porres Hospital and the Atua Government Hospital as well as to the Overlord of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sakite II.

Empathizing with traders, institutions and individuals who are suffering as a result of the outage, it cautioned the ECG not to use the “sin of a handful to punish the entire Krobo population of over 200,000,” describing the move of the power distributors as unacceptable and preposterous.

According to the group, most law-abiding citizens were paying their bills.

“The mistake by a few people should not be brought on the majority. The chiefs, MCEs, MPs, and former MPs, MCEs and opinion leaders have come out openly to condemn the United Krobo Foundation for their actions which have brought the hard-won name of Krobos into disrepute,” the group noted.

The Coalition of Krobo Youth also accused the UKF of extortions, warning that it wouldn’t look on while the group dragged the name of Krobos in the mud.

They warned the security forces that they are ready to take the law into their hands to deal with the group as it has looked on unconcerned. “if state securities that are paid to protect us fail to arrest these miscreants, we will take the law into their own hands and deal with them mercilessly,” they warned.

They however urged customers of the ECG to pay their bills religiously.