Residents of Nuaso still without power months after ECG/military disconnected community

Correspondents from Eastern Region

Residents of Nuaso Old Town in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal of the Eastern Region are lamenting over the lack of electricity in the community three months after a joint Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the military disconnected the community.

The affected residents say the situation is hindering economic, social and domestic activities in

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Several engagements involving the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the area, Simon Kwaku Tetteh, the National Security Ministry, the Energy Ministry, Assemblyman for the area, Hon Samuel Torgbor, management of the ECG and some prominent personalities in the community towards restoring power have so far proven futile.

Many business operators who spoke with GhanaWeb regretted the situation is crippling their businesses as they struggled to stay afloat. According to them, their businesses have over the past few months suffered huge losses owing to the absence of electricity.

The affected residents say that the lack of electricity has had a negative impact on the education of their children, healthcare delivery and security.
According to them, they are now worried and unable to cope with the situation and want something done promptly about their long-standing electricity challenge.

Recalling the events between the power distributors and what the Assemblyman termed as “some few people in the community” that led to the disconnection of the community, Assemblyman Samuel Torgbor said, “we all know there’s a little misunderstanding between some few people and the workers (ECG) and finally, the understanding is not there so the ECG decided that they’ll take their power,” he recounted to GhanaWeb at his shop.

The Assemblyman who runs an auto shop said he has similarly been affected by the three-month-old outage as he is unable to test some products such as batteries.
According to him, the community was slowly fading as it was gradually turning into a ghost town.

“Now Nuaso is dying, people are dying, look at the economic situation now and the women that do the petty things with light, welders, filling stations, nurses, even our security forces, the police, when you call them in the night they cannot come because they are not safe.

According to him, what happened was only an obstacle to the exercise, stressing that the community was now ready to accept the meters.

He assured the ECG: “We’re pleading with the ECG that now, we agree and totally agree because now we’re suffering. The whole town agree that they should come back and restore the power for us and go ahead with their prepaid.”

Hon Torgbor prayed the ECG and other stakeholders to, based on the engagements held so far, return to reconnect the community onto the national grid.

Students of all levels are also feeling the brunt of the outage.

A form 2 student of the Nuaso Anglican JHS, Tetteh Rosina said she's forced to resort to the use of a torch or phone to study and do her homeworks at night.

"I don't have light to read my books and do my homeworks that they give me to come and work," said the Junior high school student as she pleaded with government to come to their aid. "I need government to come and do the light for us."

The young lady who says studying with torchlights is difficult fears that the situation could have a long time effect on her studies.

A barber in the community has no option but to roll onto solar power to keep business going.

Tetteh Isaac who said he spent Ghc5,000 on the installation of the solar technology expressed regret that he had to spend his savings on acquiring the solar.

"I now resort to the use of solar for my work...the solar cost me Ghc5,000 which is on the high side," he said as he blames the authorities for his predicament.
According to him, operating from the national grid is more economical than the huge amount spent on the installation of the technology.



He called on authorities of the ECG to engage the community on the usage of the prepaid meters to help them understand and accept it.

The situation is not good in the homes either where residents have had the unpleasant experience of living without electricity.

Aside the unbearable heat they're forced to bear in the rooms, there's no electricity to power various gadgets and electrical appliances in the kitchen, hall and rooms.

Madam Comfort, ,a resident said, "It is not good at all because as there's no light, things don't go well. Because of the (heat) I sleep on the floor because there's no light to switch on the fan."

Asked if they were now ready to accept the prepaid metres, she said, "As for me, if they say we should accept the use of the prepaid, I'll allow it."
She appealed to the ECG to reconnect the community onto the national grid as the situation was unbearable.

The MCE for the area on several platforms bemoaned the effects of the outage on the lives of members of the community and assured the people that efforts were underway to reach an amicable resolution with the stakeholders.