The Coalition of Krobo Youth, a pressure group in Krobo area has registered its anger against threatening the lives of the Electricity Company of Ghana staff at Somanya in the Eastern Region by another group, United Krobo Foundation which has forced the ECG to relocate its office from the area plunging the Krobo lands into a total blackout.
The United Krobo Foundation last week mobilized some of the residents and poured onto the principal streets of the town to protest against what they described as ‘killer’ electricity bills.
According to the United Krobo Foundation, in 2017 they complained about the irregularities of services rendered in the Krobo State by the ECG.
They claimed that among other matters raised in 2017 are the wrong accumulated bills, non-reading of meters for over a year, and workers of the institution not showing professionalism.
The United Krobo Foundation said the attempt by the ECG to force residents of Krobo to pay bills that were not caused or generated by them (residents) was cheating and must be dealt with.
They further argued that the construction of the Akosombo and Kpong dams have been an instrumental tool for Ghana’s development since independence and that it would be proper that communities, where these dams have been built, should be taken good care of.
They indicated that the Volta River Authority had not demonstrated any developmental projects in Krobo, and as such, United Krobo Foundation demands that power supply to the people of Krobo communities must solely be done by Volta River Authority and no other institution.
ECG Shut Down
Due to that, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) shut down its office at Somanya as a result of threats on the lives of the staff of the company.
The company has decided to transfer all its operational activities to Juapong henceforth.
Chief
The Manya Krobo Traditional Council moved in and condemned the demonstration by the youth of Krobo, calling for the Electricity Company of Ghana to stop operations in the area.
A statement signed by Nene Sakite I, Konor of Manya Krobo and President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, said nobody has the right to proclaim any ban on a legally constituted public establishment in Ghana from operating in Krobo land.
The Traditional Council noted that the activities of the group were a threat to national security, adding that during the past four years the Manya Krobo Traditional Council engaged them and advised the leaders to stop their nefarious activities against the State but they clandestinely continued to operate, and incite the public.
Coalition Fights Back
However, the Coalition of Krobo Youth on Thursday at press conference condemned the act of the United Krobo Foundation by saying they don’t support the view by the United Krobo Foundation that “we Krobos won’t work with ECG but want to deal directly with VRA. We know VRA generates power, and that GRIDCo distributes the power for ECG to sell the power and therefore it will be an ill will on our part to fight against such a national strategic asset”.
The Coalition of Krobo Youth Convenor, Frederick Narh Oakley who addressed the media said “we don’t support the ultimatum given the ECG to leave Kroboland in three weeks. We are prepared to give security for ECG to function”.
According to the group, the effect of the blackout in the Kroboland for the past 4 days has brought enormous hardship to the people including state institutions, adding that the deployment of generating plants to the Somanya Polyclinic, Atua Government hospital and St. Martins hospital at Agormanya confirm the suspicions that the Blackout is intentional.
He explained that ECG cannot use the sin of a handful to punish the entire Krobo population of over 200,000 people. That is unacceptable, hence appealing to the government to intervene since the ECG says the blackout is a result of the breakdown of their Transformers is preposterous.
“We are by this letter serving notice to United Krobo Foundation that we are ready for them. We are aware of their extortions and would never sit down for them to use their selfish gains to drag the name of Krobo’s in the mud. We will meet them boot-for-boot at the peril of our lives. If state securities that are paid to protect us fail to arrest these miscreants, we will take the law into our own hands and deal with them mercilessly. The name of KROBOLAND which our forefathers fought for shall be protected” the Group warned.
The group, therefore, passionately appeals to management and the Board of ECG to reconsider their exit from Somanya and come back.
“We want to encourage all those who owe/or have issues with their Electricity bills to settle it through dialogue and mutual understanding. We wish to further state that we the youth are ever ready to provide the ECG staff a 24 hours protection through our watchdog committees that will be launched very soon to safeguard and protect public properties since the security setups including the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), the Police Service have woefully failed to arrest those miscreants causing problems and stoking conflicts between the citizens and the ECG” the Group convenor hinted.
Attached are images of the Coalition of Krobo Youth and his members addressing the media.
 – BY Daniel Bampoe