By Employees of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have advised the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, to clear outstanding electricity bills accumulated at his private residences or risk disconnection from the national grid.
The caution follows a string of protests instigated by ECG workers after the Minister directed the arrest of one of their managers.
The Minister’s decisions have ignited fury among ECG workers, especially following his recent directive to apprehend Mark Wiafe Asomani, the company’s Ashanti East Manager. This directive came after the ECG’s National Revenue Mobilization Taskforce disconnected power to the Kumasi Technical University due to unpaid bills.
Reacting to the Minister’s actions, the Workers’ Union of the ECG issued a statement demanding an apology. Despite the Union’s ultimatum expiring on Tuesday, the Minister has not issued an apology.
In a show of protest, ECG workers have begun wearing red bands at their offices across the country. However, they have maintained uninterrupted customer service amidst their demonstration.
The Union leadership remains steadfast in their commitment to escalate the protest if the Minister fails to take corrective measures. They assert that the Minister’s conduct is intolerable and he must be held responsible for his actions.
A worker conveyed to Citi News on Wednesday, “If the regional minister has any outstanding bills at his private residence, we will address it. This week, we will visit his residence, and if there’s any outstanding balance, we will disconnect the power supply. Subsequently, we expect the police to intervene and arrest all of us.”
“If he arrests any regional boss all of us will be at the prison yard. So, they should expand the prison yard all of us are coming. We are expecting him to apologise…We know all his houses …We are going there…He should prepare to pay his money, or we will disconnect him.”
Another worker said “The action of the minister is more of a security concern than our General Manager’s meeting at the REGSEC. The reason is that the actions can lead to other customers emulating what he did and we think that he should just apologise unreservedly to ECG then we move on. We have a series of actions to take. This is the first step That is why we said that if he is not apologizing someone should tell him to do so.”
